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OF 
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1  o 


THE    PSYCHOLOGICAL   PRINCIPLES 
OF   EDUCATION 


THE 

PSYCHOLOGICAL    PRINCIPLES 
OF    EDUCATION 

A  STUDY  IN  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 


BY 


HERMAN  HARRELL  HORNE,  PH.D. 

PROFESSOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY    IN    DARTMOUTH    COLLEGE 
AUTHOR  OF  "THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EDUCATION" 


Nein  fforfc 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO,  LTD. 
IQIO 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1906, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.  Published  July,  igo6. 
Reprinted  February,  November,  1907  ;  July,  1908; 
June,  1909;  January,  June,  1910. 


XortoooU  $rrss 

J.  8.  Cushlng  &  Co.  —  Berwick  A  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.3.A. 


Education 
Library 

LB 

IDS  i 


WHOM  SHOULD  THIS  VOLUME 
SEEK  TO  HONOR  BUT  THE 
FATHER  AND  MOTHER  WHO 
MADE  POSSIBLE  BOTH  MY  EDU- 
CATION AND  MY  PSYCHOLOGY? 


V      \ 


PREFACE 

PROGRESS  in  every  art  dates  from  the  application  of 
science.    Chemistry  widens  industry,  physics  perfects 
means  of  communication,  bacteriology  advances  medi- 
cine,   sociology    humanizes   jurisprudence,    economics 
elevates  business,  scholarship  revivifies  Biblical  truth. 
The  old   professions  of  law,  theology,  and   medicine 
grounded  themselves  in  science  during  the  mediaeval 
period.     Business  and  teaching,  though  arts  as  old  as 
man,  have  not  yet  struck  into  the  sure  path  of  science. 
There  are  many  indications,  however,  that  these  arts 
are  now  in  the  act  of  transition  from  the  em- 
^  pirical  to  the  scientific.    The  period  of  transition  has 
-s  already  lasted  a  generation ;  it  is  likely  to  last  several 
more. 

i      This  volume  attempts  to  lay  scientific  foundations 

r  for  the  art  of  teaching,  so  far  as  those  foundations  are 

'  *  concerned  with  psychology.     Though  the  art  of  educa- 

•^  tion  is  founded  in  all  the  sciences  of  man,  probably  no 

f,  science  has  quite  so  much  to  contribute  as  psychology. 

<}The  wonderful  progress  in  all  departments  of  psy- 

H  chology  during  recent  years  makes  an  outline  map  of 

consciousness  now  possible.     The  same  progress  makes 

educational   applications   in   order;   for,  as   Professor 

Titchcner  says,  "  No  sane  man  can  doubt  that  there  is 

vii 


viii  Preface 

a  relation  between  the  science  of  mind  and  the  art  of 
teaching." 

The  author  has  attempted  to  be  the  middle  man 
between  the  psychologist  and  the  teacher,  taking  the 
theoretical  descriptions  of  pure  psychology  and  trans- 
forming them  into  educational  principles  for  the  teacher. 
The  psychologist  as  such  cannot  be  asked  for  practical 
applications,  nor  must  the  teacher  be  burdened  with 
technical  and  unapplied  psychology.  The  book  will 
satisfy  neither  readers  of  pure  psychology  nor  lovers  of 
teaching  devices;  it  seeks  to  satisfy  teachers  who  love 
the  principles  of  their  art. 

There  is  a  certain  peril  in  attempting  the  practical 
in  the  matter  of  educational  principles.  The  vision 
must  not  fail,  lest  the  old-time  rule  of  thumb,  rote, 
and  insipidity  be  again  enthroned.  Nor  must  the  ap- 
plication fail,  lest  the  vagueness  of  abstract  theory 
both  confuse  and  weary.  Is  it  possible  to  say  practical 
things  to  the  busy  and  devoted  host  of  American 
teachers  that  shall  be  at  once  inspiriting  and  non- 
mechanical,  avoiding  each  horn  of  the  dilemma  of 
unusable  theory  and  useless  platitudes?  Let  this  book 
be  my  trial  answer,  to  the  publication  of  which  I  am 
encouraged  by  the  many  teachers,  in  various  places, 
who  have  heard  its  contents  in  lecture  form. 

The  outline  of  the  discussion  is  evident  from  a  glance 
at  the  table  of  contents.  In  Part  I  we  get  our  bearings 
in  the  field  of  the  science  of  education.  The  remainder 
of  the  book  sketches  such  a  science  from  the  standpoint 
of  psychology.  Its  parts  are  suggested  by  the  nature 
of  man,  the  subject  of  education.  Psychologically 


Preface  ix 

viewed,  man  is  body  and  soul.  The  phases  of  the  soul's 
life,  according  to  distinctions  wrought  now  into  common 
usage  and  adopted  here  for  this  reason,  are  knowledge, 
feeling,  and  will.  At  the  same  time  psychology  finds 
in  the  soul  no  religious  section,  just  because  the  whole 
soul  is  conscious  of  its  relationship  to  deity.  In  view 
of  the  nature  of  man,  complete  education,  psycho- 
logically viewed,  is  therefore  physical,  intellectual, 
emotional,  moral,  and  spiritual.  These  give  the  divi- 
sions of  the  book.  Only  the  discussion  of  physical 
education  is  omitted,  as  the  reader  who  is  interested 
in  doing  so  can  find  my  views  on  this  subject  elsewhere.1 
At  this  point  I  may  remark,  by  the  way,  concerning  the 
relationship  of  my  two  books  to  each  other  that,  whereas 
the  first  was  mostly  theory  with  some  practice,  this  is 
mostly  practice  with  some  theory. 

A  few  characteristic  things  about  the  mode  of  treat- 
ment may  here  be  noted.  Perhaps  for  the  first  time  in 
the  many  similar  works  in  this  general  field,  the  educa- 
tion of  the  emotions  is  permitted  to  stand  on  a  noticeable 
parity  with  intellectual  and  moral  education,  in  accord 
with  the  theory  of  the  former  volume.  Also,  the  educa- 
tion of  the  emotions  and  the  will  is  treated  with  greater 
analysis  than  customary,  but  no  greater  than  their 
complexity  deserves.  Also,  I  have  attempted  to  em- 
phasize practically  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  education 
by  concluding  the  work  with  a  discussion  of  religious 
education.  This  is  not  a  new  type  of  education  but 
just  education  conscious  of  its  true  end,  as  the  teacher 
whose  life  is  right  spiritualizes  education  into  religion. 

1  The  Philosophy  of  Education,  ch.  III. 


x  Preface 

At  the  same  time  the  reader  will  observe  my  effort  not 
to  mix  the  educational  and  religious  issues  in  the 
American  public  school  situation. 

For  convenience  of  reference  the  chapters  are  num- 
bered continuously,  despite  the  division  of  the  book 
into  parts.  The  special  problems  and  bibliography  at 
the  end  of  each  chapter  are  intended  to  serve  the  teacher 
of  the  subject,  and  also  to  provoke  the  reader  to  further 
study  and  reflection  upon  what  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
gravest  and  greatest  human  problems. 

If  this  volume  helps  to  point  the  way  to  a  science  of 
educating,  or  to  make  the  task  of  any  fellow-teacher 
somewhat  lighter  and  sweeter,  the  author  has  his  re- 
ward. 

HANOVER,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE, 
May  26,  1906. 


CONTENTS 

PART   I 
INTRODUCTION:   A   SCIENCE   OF   EDUCATION 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.    THE  CONCEPT  OF  A  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION      .  3 
II.    THE  RELATION  OF  THE  HISTORY  TO  THE  SCIENCE 

OF  EDUCATION 23 

III.  THE  PROBLEM  OF  EDUCATION      .        .        .        -31 

IV.  THE  ESSENTIAL  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  TEACHER  42 
V.    THE  CONTRIBUTION  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  TO  A  SCI- 
ENCE OF  EDUCATION 55 

VI.    THE  THEORY  OF  FORMAL  DISCIPLINE         .        .      66 

PART   II 

INTELLECTUAL  EDUCATION,  OR  EDUCAT- 
ING THE   MIND   TO   KNOW 

. 

VII.  OPENING  THE  WINDOWS  OF  CONSCIOUSNESS        .      85 

VIII.  EDUCATING  THE  MIND  TO  PERCEIVE  ...      97 

IX.  THE  EDUCATIONAL  USES  OF  THE  APPERCEPTIVE 

PROCESS  ........    107 

X.  AIDING  MEMORY  .        .        .        .       .       .       .117 

XI.  EDUCATING  THE  IMAGINATION       ....    140 

XII.  STIMULATING  THE  MIND  TO  CONCEIVE         .        .    155 

XIII.  TRAINING  THE  MIND  TO  JUDGE   .        .        .        .165 

XIV.  TEACHING  TO  REASON 177 

xl 


Xll 


Contents 


PART  III 

EMOTIONAL   EDUCATION,  OR  EDUCATING 
THE   MIND  TO   FEEL 

CHAPTER  PACK 

XV.    DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  FEELINGS      .        .        -195 
XVI.    PRINCIPLES  OF  EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS     .  208 
XVII.    THE  PLACE  OF  PLEASURE  AND  PAIN  IN  EDU- 
CATION    215 

XVIII.    CONTROLLING  THE  COARSER  EMOTIONS  .        .  220 

XIX.    DEVELOPING  THE  ALTRUISTIC  FEELINGS         .  227 

XX.    ESTHETIC  EDUCATION 239 

PART   IV 

MORAL  EDUCATION,  OR  EDUCATING  THE 
MIND   TO   WILL 

XXI.    THE  FIELD  OF  WILL 261 

XXII.    THE  USE  OF  INSTINCTS  IN  EDUCATING  .        .  266 

XXIII.  TRAINING  THE  IMPULSES         ....  270 

XXIV.  THE  PLACE  OF  IMITATION  IN  EDUCATION      .  278 
XXV.    EDUCATING  BY  SUGGESTION    ....  284 

XXVI.    FORMING  HABITS 292 

XXVII.    DELIBERATING  AND  CHOOSING        .        .        .  306 

XXVIII.    SECURING  ATTENTION 313 


PART   V 

RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION,    OR    EDUCATING 
THE   SPIRIT   IN   MAN 

XXIX.    THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  . 

XXX.    THE   DEVELOPMENT  AND  TRAINING  OF  THE 

RELIGIOUS  NATURE  .... 


335 


349 


Contents 


xin 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXXI.  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  HOME     .        .  365 

XXXII.  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  382 

XXXIII.  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  CHURCH          .  397 

XXXIV.  THE  TEXT-BOOK  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  .  411 


PART   I 

INTRODUCTION:    A  SCIENCE  OF   EDUCATION 


. \ 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  CONCEPT  OF  A  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION1 

Is  there  a  science  of  educating? 

In  considering  this  subject,  upon  which  such  a  variety 
of  modern  opinion  has  been  expressed,  let  us  begin  with 
a  definition  of  the  terms  involved. 

By  "science"  we  may  agree  to  mean  classified  and  Meaning  of 
verifiable  knowledge.  The  root  meaning  of  the  word 
science  suggests  knowledge.  But  not  all  knowledge  is 
science.  Only  the  knowledge  whose  details  appear  in 
some  relatively  organized  whole,  into  which  some  order 
has  been  introduced  by  classification,  deserves  to  be 
called  scientific.  The  knowledge  of  the  usual,  untrained 
mind  fails  of  being  scientific  at  this  point  of  system. 
And  further,  also,  the  knowledge  that  is  truly  scientific 
is  verifiable;  it  is  capable  of  demonstration  by  other 
observers,  by  all  other  efficient  observers.  The  an- 
nouncement of  a  new  discovery,  like  the  appearance  of 
"canals"  on  the  planet  Mars,  becomes  truly  scientific 
only  when  any  capable  astronomer  can  verify  it. 
Physics,  chemistry,  botany,  biology,  logic,  aesthetics, 
ethics,  etc.,  are  called  sciences,  for  example,  because  they 
are  classified  and  verifiable  bodies  of  knowledge.  The 

1  This  discussion  is  a  revision  of  a  paper  on  the  same  subject  read 
at  the  World's  Congress  of  Arts  and  Sciences  in  St.  Louis,  September, 
1904. 

3 


4     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

nether  and  the  upper  boundaries  of  science  are  both 
vague,  it  is  true,  —  there  being  no  clear  line  of  cleav- 
age where  unscientific  knowledge  ends  and  scientific 
knowledge  begins,  or  where  scientific  knowledge  ends 
and  speculative  hypotheses  begin. 

So  far  it  is  evident  that  if  educating  is  capable  of 
reduction  to  a  scientific  basis,  there  must  be  had  con- 
cerning it  a  body  of  systematized  and  demonstrable 
knowledge. 

Descriptive        To  assist  us  further  in  thinking  of  what  a  science  is, 
Normative     ^e  logicians  and  philosophers  who  have  sought  to 
Science.         classify   the   various   sciences   distinguish   two   kinds, 
viz.  the  descriptive  and  explanatory,  and  the  norma- 
tive.   The  so-called  descriptive  sciences  tell  us  what  the 
fact  is  and  what  are  its  causes.    The  normative  sciences 
tell  us  what  the  fact  ought  to  be;  i.e.  they  establish 
norms  or  standards  of  experience.     Physics,  history, 
and  psychology  would  illustrate  the  descriptive  sciences, 
while  logic,  aesthetics,  and   ethics  would  illustrate  the 
normative    sciences.     Psychology    describes    and    ex- 
plains states  of  consciousness,  including  how  we  think ; 
-.     logic  tells  us  how  we  ought  to  think  in  order  to  reach 
valid  conclusions. 

So  our  first  question  must  now  be  restated  in  the 
form,  Is  there  a  descriptive,  or  a  normative,  science  of 
educating;  or,  indeed,  are  the  facts  of  educating 
capable  of  both  modes  of  treatment?  This  is  the 
question  we  must  seek  to  answer  as  soon  as  we  can 
agree  what  our  second  term,  "educating,"  signifies. 
Meaning  of  By  "educating"  in  this  connection  we  may  agree  to 

"  Educating.  ° 

mean  the  realizing  of   the  natural  powers  of   pupils 

. 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education      5 

through  all  the  agencies  of  the  school.  This  definition, 
and  indeed  the  very  form  of  the  word  we  have  chosen,  — 
"  educating," — suggest  the  activities  of  education.  Edu- 
cating is  no  passive  process;  it  is  doing  something; 
it  is  the  fertilizing  and  cultivating  of  minds.  Pre- 
supposing the  inherent  mental  capacities  as  the  gifts  of 
nature,  educating  is  a  seeking  to  find  and  to  realize 
them.  The  term  covers  whatsoever  the  school,  as  one 
of  the  institutions  of  society,  does  to  assist  its  members 
hi  becoming  their  true  selves. 

This  definition  leads  us  at  the  threshold  of  our  Educating 
inquiry  to  consider  whether  educating  is  primarily  a  an  Art. 
science  or  an  art.  What  a  science  is  we  have  seen; 
an  art  in  distinction  from  a  science  is  action  rather  than 
knowledge.  The  arts  are  the  practical  endeavors'  of 
society  to  express  its  purposes.  We  speak  of  the  arts 
of  navigation,  of  war,  of  commerce,  etc.  Obviously, 
educating  is  primarily  an  art.  It  is  one  of  the  practical 
activities  of  society  to  attain  a  specific  purpose.  Just 
as  society  engages  in  the  art  of  producing  and  distribut- 
ing wealth,  of  applying  nature's  forces  to  man's  pur- 
poses, of  healing  diseases,  of  reforming  criminals,  of 
ministering  to  souls,  so  also  it  engages  in  the  art  of 
educating  the  young.  In  considering  whether  edu- 
cating is  reducible  to  a  science,  we  must  not,  therefore, 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  it  is  primarily  an  art. 

But  the  analogy  of  the  other  arts  throws  us  back  with  The  Analogy 

.     .       of  the  Arts, 

emphasis  upon  the  opening  question  whether  and  in 
what  sense  there  is  a  science  of  educating;  for  all  the 
efficient  arts  of  society  rest  upon  sciences.  There  are 


6     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

economic  laws  for  the  capitalist,  natural  and  mathe- 
matical laws  for  the  engineer,  physiological  and  anatomi- 
cal laws  for  the  physician,  pathological  and  social  laws 
for  the  criminologist,  psychological  and  ethical  laws 
for  the  minister.  In  proportion  as  educating  is  simi- 
lar to  the  other  arts  of  society,  analogy  would  lead  us 
to  suppose  that  there  are  some  laws  for  the  teacher. 
Educating  is  similar  to  the  other  arts  in  the  essential 
respect  of  being  a  social  activity  to  attain  a  specific 
purpose.  This  essential  similarity  warrants  the  pre- 
sumption by  analogy  that  -there  are  also  laws  for  the 
educator.  He  alone  in  the  group  of  social  experts 
is  not  to  be  left  without  scientific  guidance.  Presump- 
tively at  least,  then,  in  addition  to  being  primarily 
an  art,  educating  is  also  secondarily  a  science. 


A  Descriptive      But?  now,  in  what  sense  may  we  think  of  educating 

Science  of  . 

Education.  as  a  science,  descriptive  or  normative?  There  can 
be  no  question  that  a  descriptive  science  of  educat- 
ing is  possible.  Students  of  education  can  observe, 
gather,  classify,  organize,  and  verify  facts.  There 
is  nothing  about  educational  phenomena  to  prevent 
their  being  studied  scientifically.  Only  those  matters 
that  are  beyond  human  observation  and  verification, 
like  the  realities  of  pure  philosophy,  such  as  God, 
Freedom,  and  Immortality,  forbid  by  their  nature 
scientific  treatment.  The  observable  data  for  such 
a  descriptive  science  of  education  are  largely  at  hand 
in  the  educational  documents  of  the  race,  including 
all  accounts  and  reports  of  what  the  facts  of  education 
have  been  and  are.  If  history  is  a  descriptive  science, 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education      7 

who  can  deny  that  the  history  of  education  is  a  de- 
scriptive science?  And  if  there  can  be  "A  History 
of  our  own  Times,"  there  can  be  a  history  of  contem- 
porary educational  systems.  A  descriptive  science 
of  education  would  include  then  a  careful  and  sys- 
tematic record  of  the  past  and  present  educational 
facts.  Such  a  descriptive  science  associates  itself 
with  that  group  of  the  sciences  commonly  called 
social,  other  members  of  which  are  economics,  so- 
ciology, and  history.  Remembering  the  extent  to 
which  the  facts  of  education  have  been  recorded, 
compiled,  digested,  and  classified  in  our  day,  the  ex- 
tent to  which  histories  of  education,  however  imper- 
fect, already  exist  as  a  result  of  such  eager  study,  we 
must  affirm  that  a  descriptive  science  of  education  is 
not  simply  a  possibility,  but  also  a  partial  actuality. 

If  the  original  question  as  to  the  possibility  of  a  Conflicting 

Attitudes 

science  of  education  had   contemplated    only   a   de-  toward  a 
scriptive  science,  not  much  warfare  would  have  been  Normative 

Science  of 

waged  concerning  it.  The  centre  of  controversy  has  Education, 
been  the  deeper  question,  "Is  a  normative  science  of 
educating  possible  ?  "  That  is,  is  it  at  all  possible  to 
say  not  simply  what  education  is,  but  also  what  it  ought 
to  be?  Do  the  school  processes  admit  at  all  of  being 
directed  toward  an  ideal?  Is  there  any  definable 
ideal  of  education?  To  such  deep  and  far-reaching 
questions  as  these  the  answers  have  naturally  been 
diverse.  He  whose  mind  is  possessed  by  the  changes 
of  races,  and  conditions,  and  times,  and  problems 
that  history  has  to  record,  answers  quickly  that  no 


8     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

universal  science  of  educating,  no  absolute  pedagogy, 
is  possible.  He  whose  mind,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
possessed  by  the  sameness  in  human  nature,  by  the 
unity  of  the  race,  by  the  permanence  of  mental  laws, 
answers  firmly  that  in  some  sense  there  is  possible 
a  normative  science  of  educating.  What  answer  shall 
we  render?  As  leading  the  way  to  our  conclusion, 
let  us  review  the  opposing  arguments.  It  may  turn 
out  the  two  positions  are  not  mutually  contradictory, 
and  that  we  may  find  a  standing-ground  between 
them. 

The  Negative      In    1 888   Professor    Dilthey   of    the   University  of 
muhe^and     Berlin  raised  the  question  before  the  Berlin  Academy 
Royce.          of  Sciences  of  the  possibility  of  a  universally  valid 
pedagogical  science.1    With  the  general  negative  con- 
clusion of  this  inquiry  Professor  Royce,  in  1891,  found 
himself  in  substantial  agreement,  as  follows:  — 

"In  short,  scientific  pedagogy,  far  from  telling  the 
teacher  finally  and  completely  just  what  human  nature 
is,  and  must  be,  and  just  what  to  do  with  it,  will  be 
limited  to  pointing  out  what  does,  on  the  whole,  tend 
toward  good  order  and  toward  the  organization  of 
impulses  into  character.  'This  is  the  whole  province 
of  pedagogy'  as  a  general  science.  Its  applications 
to  the  conditions  of  a  particular  time,  nation,  family, 
and  child,  will  be  a  matter  of  art,  not  science.  .  .  . 

"There  is  no  universally  valid  science  of  pedagogy 
that  is  capable  of  any  complete  formulation  and  of 
direct  application  to  individual  pupils  and  teachers. 

1  "  Ueber  die  Moglichkeit  einer  allgemeingiltigen  pedagogischen 
Wissenschaft." 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education      9 

Nor  will  there  ever  be  one  as  long  as  human  nature 
develops,  through  cross-breeding  in  each  new  gener- 
ation, individual  types  that  never  were  there  before; 
so  long  as  history  furnishes,  in  every  age,  novel  social 
environments,  new  forms  of  faith,  new  ideals,  a  new 
industrial  organization,  and  thus  new  problems  for 
the  educator.  .  .  . 

"To  sum  it  all  up  in  one  word:  Teaching  is  an  art« 
Therefore  there  is  indeed  no  science  of  education. 
But  what  there  is,  is  the  world  of  science  furnishing 
material  for  the  educator  to  study."1 

And  with  these  conclusions  many  students  of  edu- 
cation find  themselves  in  agreement. 

In  estimating   these  notable  and  influential    posi-  Criticism  of 

this  Position. 

tions  of  two  leading  thinkers,  it  is  necessary  to  note 
carefully  just  what  is  denied,  and  the  reasons  for  the 
denial.  A  universally  valid  science  of  educating  is 
denied,  because  (i)  conditions  change,  (2)  individuals 
differ,  and  (3)  teaching  is  an  art. 

Concerning  the  facts  that  conditions  change,  indi- 
viduals differ,  and  teaching  is  an  art,  there  may  be  no 
dispute.  Concerning  the  conclusion  from  these  facts 
that  no  universally  valid  science  of  educating  is  pos- 
sible, there  may  likewise  be  no  dispute.  But  with 
this  conclusion  we  must  not  confuse,  as  the  authors 
seem  to  do,  the  entirely  different  one,  that  "  there  is, 
indeed,  no  science  of  education."  Universal  validity 
is  not  one  of  the  inalienable  characteristics  of  science; 
—  those  characteristics,  as  we  saw,  were  system  and 

1  "Is  there  a  Science  of  Education?"  Educational  Review,  Vol.  i, 
two  articles. 


io    The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 


The  Argu- 
ment from 
Change  of 
Condition. 


verifiability.  There  may  be  a  science  of  education 
that  is  not  universally  valid,  just  as  there  is  a  science 
of  therapeutics  not  universally  valid,  whose  principles 
depend  for  their  application  upon  the  peculiar  condi- 
tion of  the  case  diagnosed.  In  short,  the  fallacy  of 
the  argument  is  that  which  technical  logicians  call 
ignoralio  elenchi,  or  irrelevant  conclusion. 

Concerning  the  unquestionable  conclusion  that  no 
universally  valid  science  of  education  is  possible,  it 
is  sufficient  to  remark  that  there  is  no  need  and  no 
demand  for  such.  All  that  society  needs  is  a  relative, 
not  an  absolute,  pedagogy;  is  a  growing,  not  a  static, 
educational  ideal. 

But  I  desire  also  to  examine  the  reasons  urged  to 
see  whether  they  would  justify  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  no  science  of  education  at  all,  either  absolute 
or  relative.  The  fact  that  the  conditions  of  human 
society  change  from  age  to  age  does  not  warrant  the 
conclusion  that  nothing  can  be  said  in  each  age  con- 
cerning what  education  ought  to  be,  but  only  the 
conclusion  that  what  one  age  says  another  age  must 
revise.  The  educational  ideal  must  itself  develop 
as  the  nature  of  human  society  successively  discloses 
itself.  Changing  conditions  do  not  negate  normative 
educational  procedure,  —  they  only  demand  contin- 
uous improvement  in  educational  procedure.  The 
history  of  education  is  abundant  warrant  for  this 
conclusion.  Where  social  conditions  have  notably 
changed,  quickly  some  educational  reformer  demanded 
that  the  schools  adjust  themselves  to  the  new  order. 
Indeed,  it  is  also  true  that  when  some  social  reformer, 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education     1 1 

like  Plato,  has  pictured  an  ideal  society,  he  has  also 
looked  to  education  to  enact  his  reforms  with  the  young 
and  plastic  generation.  That  the  fact  of  changing 
human  conditions  does  not  annul  normative  educa- 
tional science,  a  modern  writer  states  thus:  "The 
social  environment  to  be  dealt  with  changes  in  char- 
acter with  the  evolution  of  the  race,  and  varies  with 
the  different  races;  the  physical  environment  is  modi- 
fied by  the  locality,  and  so  on.  But  our  general  prin- 
ciple, as  a  type  of  educational  propositions,  is  none 
the  less  scientific  because  it  has  not  just  the  same 
application  in  all  instances,  though  it  may  be  less 
mathematical,  less  perspicacious,  more  complex  and 
indeterminate  on  this  account."  l 

The  second   reason   mentioned  above,  viz.  individ-  T^6  Argu- 
ment from 
uals   differ,  does  not  invalidate  a  relative   pedagogy,   individual 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  the  differences  of  in-  Varu 
dividuals  as  subjects  of  education  are  no  greater  than 
the  differences  between  individuals  as  members  of 
society,  as  having  physical  bodies,  or  as  having  intel- 
lectual, or  emotional,  or  volitional  natures;  and  yet 
the  sciences  of  sociology,  physiology,  logic,  aesthetics, 
and  ethics  seem  possible.  In  other  words,  the  objec- 
tion to  the  science  of  educating,  if  universalized,  would 
render  impossible  all  the  existent  sciences  of  man. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  possibility  of  a  relative  nor- 
mative science  of  educating  appears  in  the  real  and 
fundamental  similarities  of  human  beings.  Our  like- 
nesses are  greater  and  deeper  than  our  differences. 
Our  processes  of  physical  and  mental  activity  are 

1  O'Shea,  "Education  as  Adjustment,"  p.  13. 


12    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Argu- 
ment from 
Teaching  as 
an  Art. 


Conclusions 
of  the  Criti- 
cal Argu- 
ment. 


similar;  the  results  of  those  processes  in  deeds  and 
thoughts  are  different.  The  essential  similarities  of 
men  appear  in  all  their  cooperative  effort,  like  speech, 
industry,  and  the  arts  of  civilization.  Essential  simi- 
larities in  physical  and  mental  action  permit  gener- 
alizations, and  generalizations  allow  practical  appli- 
cations. They  suggest  a  norm,  a  standard,  to  which 
experience  in  general  should  conform.  Because  pupils 
in  school  are  alike,  general  principles  of  guidance  are 
possible ;  indeed,  in  a  considerable  degree,  they  already 
exist. 

The  last  argument  that,  because  teaching  is  an  art, 
it  is  not  a  science,  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
anticipate.  Admittedly,  teaching  is  primarily  an  art. 
This  admission,  however,  does  not  warrant  the  con- 
clusion that  teaching  cannot  be  secondarily  a  science. 
Such  a  conclusion  neglects  the  analogy  of  the  arts. 
Besides,  from  the  time  of  Socrates  until  now  the  teacher 
has  had  his  norm  in  going  about  his  work,  has  had 
what  he  conceived  as  a  good  and  as  a  bad  way  of  teach- 
ing. And  when  he  did  not  know  himself,  others  have 
not  been  hesitant  in  telling  him  how  he  ought  to  do. 
The  argument  here  turns  upon  fact;  and  the  fact  is 
that  educational  standards  of  procedure,  however 
imperfect,  exist  and  have  existed  ever  since  education 
began  to  be  reflectively  considered  among  the  Greeks. 

Considering  the  arguments  of  Professors  Dillhey 
and  Royce  as  a  whole,  we  must  conclude  that  they 
establish  that  no  universally  valid  science  of  educat- 
ing is  possible,  but  this  conclusion  is  irrelevant;  also 
that  the  arguments  do  not  disprove  the  real  point 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education     13 

at  issue,  viz.  whether  a  relative  and  adjustable  norma- 
tive pedagogy  is  possible.  Positively,  the  rebuttal 
of  these  arguments  has  rather  tended  to  confirm  the 
presumption  given  by  the  analogy  of  the  arts,  viz. 
that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  a  normative  pedagogy 
is  possible. 

In  addition  to  the  conspicuous  objections  just  con-  Another 
sidered,  there  is  another  rather  general  and  popular  Potion 
one,  that  pedagogy  is  not  exact.     This  objection  goes  Considered- 
along  with  the  general  feeling  that  knowledge  deserv- 
ing to  be  called  scientific  ought  to  be  exact.    The 
feeling  is  natural.      Exactitude  is  an  ideal  of  scien- 
tific  investigation.     Also   it   must   be   fully   admitted 
that  pedagogy  is  not  exact,  as  physics,  chemistry,  or 
astronomy  are   exact. 

But  in  reply  to  such  considerations  as  serious  ob-  Th«  inexact 

.  ,  .  ,  Sciences. 

jections  to  the  formulating  of  a  science  of  educating, 
two  things  must  be  taken  into  account.  One  is,  that 
there  are  also  inexact  sciences,  like  biology  and  so- 
ciology and  psychology.  Indeed,  the  sciences  that 
deal  with  life,  the  vital  sciences,  are  all  inexact.  Only 
the  lifeless  things,  like  matter,  admit  of  rigidly  exact 
treatment ;  the  live  things  defy  our  final  measurements 
and  descriptions,  —  they  outgrow  our  accounts  of 
them.  None  the  less  there  are  sciences  of  life,  inex- 
act though  they  be. 
The  second  thing  to  remember  is  that  the  vital  T**  Increas- 

U  •  i  i    r  ingly  Exact 

phenomena,  m  general,  and  educational  facts,  in  par-  study  of 
ticular,  are  being  more  and  more  successfully  viewed  Educal 
in  exact   statistical  fashion.    Not  that  mathematical 


14    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Positive 
Position. 


The  Argu- 
ment from 
Institutions. 


precision  will  ever  be  attained  in  the  vital  sciences, 
but  such  precision  is  the  ideal  of  investigation,  and  is 
being  ever  more  and  more  approximated.  In  the 
light  of  such  newer  work,1  we  may  confidently  expect 
that  educating  will  become  increasingly  an  exact  science, 
though  never  becoming  finally  so,  and  thus  this  ob- 
jection will  have  diminishing  weight  with  the  lapse 
of  time. 

Is  there  a  normative  science  of  educating  possible? 
A  summary  of  the  preceding  considerations  involves 
the  following  reasons  for  an  affirmative  answer;  viz. 

(1)  each  age  can  and  does  say  something  concerning 
what  the  education  of  its  own  children  ought  to  be; 

(2)  the  essential  similarities  of  children  permit  rela- 
tive generalizations  and  applications ;    (3)  the  analogy 
of  the  arts  suggests  a  science  underlying  the  art  of  edu- 
cation;   (4)  the  history  of  education  reveals  the  pres- 
ence of   conscious   norms;    (5)  the  normative  science 
of  education  is,  and  probably  must  remain,  inexact; 
and  to  these  may  be  added,  (6)  the  existence  of  normal 
institutions  and  the  normative  writings  of  educational 
experts,    implying   the    reality,    if   inadequacy,   of   an 
educational  standard. 

To  refer  to  this  last  argument  from  institutions 
and  men  more  in  detail.  From  the  time  when  the 
Jesuits  began  hi  the  seventeenth  century  to  train  their 
teachers,  down  through  the  service  of  the  normal 
schools  abroad  and  at  home,  even  to  the  establish- 


1  Cf-    for  instance,  the  psychological  and  pedagogical  writings  of 
E.  L.  Thorndike. 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education     15 

ment  to-day  of  schools  of  education  and  graduate 
departments  of  pedagogy  in  connection  with  practice 
schools  in  our  universities,  various  institutions  have 
by  their  existence  affirmed  the  possibility  of  a  scien- 
tific knowledge  of  education.  The  position  of  various 
educational  writers  will  be  the  same. 
To  omit  consideration  of  Herbart,  the  most  notable  The  Work  of 

Alexander 

advocate,  doubtless,  of  education  as  a  science,  we  Bain, 
may  mention  the  work  and  influence  of  Alexander 
Bain.  In  1878  appeared  his  famous  discussion, 
"Education  as  a  Science,"  which  is  the  forerunner 
and  the  superior  of  many  modern  volumes.  Bain 
opens  his  discussion  with  this  paragraph:  "The  scien- 
tific treatment  of  any  art  consists  partly  in  applying 
the  principles  furnished  by  the  several  sciences  in- 
volved, as  chemical  laws  to  agriculture,  and  partly 
in  enforcing,  throughout  the  discussion,  the  utmost 
precision  and  vigor  in  the  statement,  deduction,  and 
proof  of  the  various  maxims  or  rules  that  make  up 
the  art.  .  .  .  "x 

"Further  it  aught  to  be  pointed  out,  as  specially 
applicable  to  our  present  subject,  that  the  best  attain- 
able knowledge  on  anything  is  due  to  a  combination 
of  general  principles  obtained  from  the  sciences,  with 
well-conducted  observations  and  experiments  made 
in  actual  practice.  On  every  great  question  there 
should  be  a  convergence  of  both  lights.  The  techni- 
cal expression  for  this  is  'the  union  of  the  Deduc- 
tive and  Inductive  Methods.'  The  deductions  are  to 
be  obtained  apart,  in  their  own  way,  and  with  all 

1  "Education  as  a  Science,"  p.  i. 


1 6     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

attainable  precision.  The  inductions  are  the  maxims 
of  practice  —  purified,  in  the  first  instance,  by  wide 
comparison  and  by  the  requisite  precautions."  l 
The  work  of  jn  1886,  to  take  another  early  example,  Professor 
W.  H.  Payne  wrote  his  "Contributions  to  the  Science 
of  Education,"  from  which  I  take  the  following  pas- 
sage: "In  respect  of  method,  therefore,  the  case  may 
be  stated  in  this  way :  the  greater  part  of  the  material 
composing  the  science  of  education  is  borrowed  from 
other  sciences;  and  these  first  principles,  thus  taken 
on  trust,  must  be  applied  to  use  by  the  deductive 
method.  There  are  other  principles,  however,  that 
the  science  of  education  must  find,  and  the  method  of 
this  finding  must  be  inductive;  but  when  actually 
found,  these  laws,  like  those  that  are  borrowed,  must 
be  applied  deductively.  But  a  concurrent  factor 
throughout  the  whole  science  must  be  the  verification 
of  laws  and  their  applications  by  the  analytical  study 
of  results;  and  this  verification  is  an  inductive  process."2 

TheMethods  jn  addition  to  affirming  the  possibility  of  a  science 
tionaisci-  of  educating,  Bain  and  Payne  also  agree  in  suggest- 
ing the  means  whereby  it  is  to  be  attained.  Since 
whether  a  body  of  knowledge  deserves  to  be  called 
scientific  or  not  depends  so  largely,  almost  exclusively, 
upon  the  method  whereby  it  was  attained,  we  may 
well  consider  next  the  scientific  methods  at  the  dis- 
position of  students  of  educational  phenomena.  These 
are  in  general  the  same  as  those  that  belong  to  any 
scientific  investigation;  viz.  generalizations  from  ob- 
1  Op.  cit.  p.  9.  2  Page  18. 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education     17 

served   phenomena   and   applications   to   new   condi- 
tions;   or,  technically,  induction  and  deduction. 

To  consider  the  place  of  induction  in  the  formation  induction. 
of  a  science  of  educating.  This  is  the  newer  mode 
of  investigating  educational  facts,  as,  since  Francis 
Bacon,  it  is  the  modern  mode  of  investigating  natural 
facts.  U£_  means  the  observing  and  classifying  and  ^ 
explaining  of  all  accessible  educational  data;  it  leads 
to  what  Professor  Hanus  and  others  have  called  "the 
organization  of  educational  experience."  It  is  the 
essential,  though  not  exclusive,  method  whereby 
education  as  a  descriptive  science  is  being  attained. 
The  best  in  the  descriptive  is  the  basis  for  the  norma- 
tive. Thus  in  education,  as  in  other  fields,  induction 
is  one  of  the  two  feet  with  which  scientific  progress 
has  moved. 

To  illustrate  the  contemporary  emphasis  upon  in- 
ductive methods  in  educational  studies,  particularly 
methods  of  the  exacter  sort,  I  will  quote  from  one  of 
the  texts  referred  to  above:  "The  science  of  educa- 
tion when  it  develops  will,  like  other  sciences,  rest  upon 
direct  observations  of  and  experiments  on  the  influ- 
ence of  educational  institutions  and  methods  made 
and  reported  with  quantitative  precision.  Since 
groups  of  variable  facts  will  be  the  material  it  studies, 
statistics  will  everywhere  be  its  handmaid.  The 
chief  duty  of  serious  students  of  education  to-day  is 
to  form  the  habit  of  inductive  study  and  learn  the 
logic  of  statistics."  l 

We  may  feel  sure  that  these  exacter  inductive  methods  Deduction- 

1  Thorndike,  "Educational  Psychology,"  pp.  163-164. 


1 8     The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 

are  the  source  of  our  coming  educational  discoveries. 
Meanwhile,  the  other  foot  upon  which  scientific 
progress  has  marched  must  not  be  omitted.  Deduc- 
tion applies  what  induction  discovers.  Induction  has 
already  discovered  much  concerning  the  nature  of 
man.  These  results  are  embodied  in  the  sciences  of 
man,  like  anthropology,  sociology,  psychology,  logic, 
aesthetics,  ethics,  and  the  rest.  These  sciences  by  what 
they  already  reveal  concerning  man  are  able  to  suggest 
what  man's  true  nature  is.  They  consequently  can 
suggest  the  educational  ideal.  The  educational  ideal 
is  the  realization  of  man's  true  nature.  The  results 
then  of  these  sciences  of  man  need  to  be  put  in  utiliz- 
able  shape  for  those  who  would  intelligently  develop 
a  man  according  to  his  true  nature.  The  knowledge 
of  the  real  nature  of  man,  that  is  what  educators  need. 
Such  knowledge  suggests  both  the  goal  of  human 
development  and  the  means  necessary,  in  consonance 
with  past  developmental  agencies,  to  reach  that  goal. 
The  definition  of  this  goal  and  the  means  of  its  attain- 
ment involves  present  deductive  applications  of  past 
inductive  discoveries.  Here  again,  it  is  the  knowl- 
edge of  what  man  is  that  suggests  what  he  ought  to 
be.  The  normative  is  the  idealizing  of  the  descriptive. 
We  find  a  contemporary  illustration  of  the  use  of 
the  logical  method  of  deduction  in  the  field  of  educa- 
tion in  the  numerous,  often  crude,  so-called  psycholo- 
gies for  teachers.  The  most  of  them  are  in  large 
part  both  poor  psychology  and  unpractical  pedagogy. 
There  are  a  few  oases,  however,  in  the  desert,  like 
James's  "  Talks  to  Teachers."  But  the  number  of  these 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education     19 

books  recently  illustrates  the  legitimate  demand  that 
psychology  shall  place  its  knowledge  of  the  human 
mind  at  the  disposition  of  the  teacher.  That  the 
quality  of  these  books  at  first  should  have  been  poor 
is  natural.  Scientific  psychologists  had,  as  a  rule,  the 
ability  but  not  the  inclination  to  make  educational 
application,  while  the  practical  pedagogue  had,  as  a 
rule,  the  inclination  but  not  the  ability.  We  may  con- 
fidently expect  the  quality  of  the  applied  psychologies 
to  improve  continually  from  the  increasing  attention 
that  the  psychological  experts  are  giving  educational 
problems. 

But  we  need  something  else  in  the  normative  science  Thc  Use  of 

....  All  the 

of  education  besides  an  improvement  in  the  quality  sciences  of 
of  the  practical  psychologies.  We  need  even  more  Man' 
to-day  educational  applications  from  the  whole  range 
of  the  sciences  of  man,  including  anthropology,  so- 
ciology, logic,  aesthetics,  ethics,  the  science  of  religion, 
etc.  The  search-lights  of  all  the  human  sciences  need 
to  be  turned  upon  contemporary  educational  methods 
and  ideals.  To  begin  with,  biology  must  tell  us  what 
education  can  and  cannot  do  for  a  man.  The  other 
sciences  must  tell  us  how  man  has  developed  hi  order 
that  we  may  use  these  same  forces  in  forwarding  his 
progress ;  also  what  his  goal  is,  so  far  as  it  can  be  dimly 
suggested,  that  we  may  move  in  the  right  direction. 
If,  for  example,  anthropologists  have  discovered  that, 
"in  human  childhood,  whether  of  race  or  individ- 
ual, the  hand  leads  the  mind,"1  here  is  a  fact  most 

1  Cf.  W.  J.  McGhee,  "Strange  Races  of  Men,"  World's  Work, 
August,  1904. 


2O    The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 

significant  for  the  educator  in  dealing  with  the  problem 
of  manual  training.  If,  for  example,  the  science  of 
religion  reveals  man,  in  the  words  of  the  lamented 
Sabatier,  as  "incurably  religious,"  here  is  an  element 
of  the  educational  ideal  whose  omission  is  intolerable. 
It  is  the  destiny  of  man  to  become  completely  what 
he  already  is  potentially.  So  far,  thus,  from  being 
limited  to  applied  psychologies,  educational  science 
must  include  the  application  of  all  the  organic  and 
human  sciences.  Confronting  this  standard  of  edu- 
cational science,  giants  become  pygmies,  and  experts 
blunderers. 

what  a  Welcome  all  the  agencies  that  are  manfully  and 

Education  courageously  attacking  this  central  problem  of  human 
most  Needs,  welfare.  For  a  science  of  education  the  essential 
demand  is  for  scientists  at  work  in  its  field,  for  those 
who  can  both  wisely  induce  from  past  and  present 
facts,  and  safely  deduce  from  all  the  sciences  of  man. 
To  quote  Professor  O'Shea  again,  "The  greatest  need 
in  education  to-day  is  the  development  of  the  scien- 
tific temper  among  teachers,  and  the  adoption  of  scien- 
tific method  by  all  who  treat  of  educational  questions."  1 
To  such  scientific  investigators  we  can  trust  the  child- 
study  movement,  the  pedagogical  experiment  stations, 
the  educational  laboratories,  and  all  the  deductive 
applications.  It  is  no  time  for  lamenting  that  the 
noonday  of  educational  science  is  not  here,  for  the 
dawn  appears,  nor  for  complaining  at  the  futility  of 
past  endeavors,  for  we  are  already  entering  into  those 

1  "Education  as  Adjustment,"  Preface. 


The  Concept  of  a  Science  of  Education     21 

pioneer  labors.  "It  is  possible,  conceivably  it  is 
more  than  possible,  that  modern  pedagogics  may  be 
struggling  out  of  darkness  into  some  more  divine  light 
than  has  been  vouchsafed  as  yet."  1 

We  may  now  summarize  our  answer  to  the  opening  Summary, 
question.  A  descriptive  science  of  education  is  clearly 
possible,  —  the  concept  of  such  a  science  being  only 
classified  and  verifiable  knowledge  concerning  what 
education  is.  A  normative  science  of  education  also 
appears  possible,  —  the  concept  of  such  a  science 
being  a  body  of  growing  knowledge  classified  and 
verifiable  concerning  how  and  toward  what  goal  educa- 
tion ought  to  proceed.  This  science  is  continuously 
derived  inductively  from  all  the  experience  of  the 
school  and  deductively  from  all  the  sciences  of  man. 
The  implications  of  experience  must  be  tested  by  the 
results  of  the  sciences,  and  the  applications  of  the 
sciences  must  be  tested  in  the  crucible  of  experience. 
From  the  attrition  of  these  two,  as  from  the  upper 
and  lower  millstones,  will  issue  the  strength  of  edu- 
cational life.  May  the  succeeding  pages  contribute 
their  iota  to  this  youngest  science ! 

That  such  a  science  is  a  consummation  devoutly 
to  be  wished,  the  labors  of  the  educational  reformers 
of  the  world,  the  longings  of  practical  teachers  and 
superintendents,  and  the  needs  of  society  for  the 
greater  man  and  woman,  abundantly  testify.  What 
science  has  already  been  able  to  attain  in  the  almost 

1  Barrett  Wendell,  "Our  National  Superstition,"  North  American 
Review,  September,  1904. 


22    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

virgin  field  of  education  condemns  idle  doubt  and 
warrants  the  faith  that  works.  Educators  are  learn- 
ing to  say  with  Mackay, — 

"  Blessings  on  Science !  when  the  world  seemed  old, 
And  faith  grew  doubting,  and  reason  cold, 
'Twas  she  discovered  that  the  world  was  young, 
And  taught  a  language  to  its  lisping  tongue." 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Classification  of  the  Sciences. 

2.  The  Relations  of  Science  and  Art. 

3.  The  Relations  of  Descriptive  and  Normative  Science. 

4.  Herbart's  Conception  of  the  Science  of  Education. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  ch.  I. 

Boone,  Science  of  Education,  chs.  XIII,  XV,  XVI,  XXVII. 

Dilthey,   Ueber  die   Mb'glichkeit  einer  allgemeingiltigen  peda- 

gogischen  Wissenschaft.     1888. 
Findlay,  The  Scope  of  the  Science  of  Education,  Ed.  Rev.  Vol.  14, 

pp.  236  et  seq. 
Harris,  Relation  of  the  Art  to  the  Science  of  Education,  Proc. 

N.  E.  A.,  1884,  pp.  190  et  seq. 
Hinsdale,  Studies  in  Education,  pp.  91-112. 
O'Shea,  Education  as  Adjustment,  Part  I. 
Payne,  Contributions  to  the  Science  of  Education,  chs.  I,  II, 

III. 
Royce,  Is  there  a  Science  of  Education?    Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  i,  pp.  15, 

121  et  seq. 
Sinclair,  The  Possibility  of  a  Science  of  Education.     Chicago, 

1903. 

Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  ch.  XV.    New  York,  1903. 
Young,  Scientific  Method  in  Education,  Chicago  Decennial  Pub- 
lications, Vol.  Ill,  pp.  141  et  seq. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   RELATION   OF   THE    HISTORY   TO    THE   SCIENCE   OF 
EDUCATION 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  it  was  said  that  the  history 
of  education  reveals  the  presence  of  conscious  norms. 
This  chapter  will  attempt  to  illustrate  this  statement 
and  also  to  suggest  the  purpose  and  utility  of  the  his- 
tory of  education  for  the  student  of  its  science. 

The  study  of  the  history  of  education  tends  to  give  The  Purpose 

of  the  History 

us  several  desirable  results,  viz.  an  account  of  what  Of  Education, 
was  thought  about  the  child  in  any  period  of  the  world's 
history  and  the  consequent  educational  attitude  toward 
him,  the  real  centre  of  all  educational  endeavor;  an 
account  of  the  methods  used  in  attaining  that  end  for 
which  the  child  was  supposed  to  exist;  an  account  of 
the  lives,  characters,  and  theories  of  those  men  that 
have  taught  and  fashioned  the  teaching  of  the  world; 
an  account  of  those  educational  tendencies  larger  than 
individual  men  and  spanning  years  and  hundreds  of 
years  in  their  influence;  a  description  of  the  social, 
political,  and  religious  conditions  under  which  the 
separate  systems  of  education  flourished,  and  of  which 
they  were  an  integral  part;  and  lastly,  and  perhaps 
most  significant  of  all  for  the  scientific  student  of  edu- 
cation, its  history  describes  and  explains  the  stages  in 
the  development  of  the  gradually  unfolding  educational 

33 


24    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

ideal.  No  mind  to-day  unacquainted  with  the  grand 
sweeps  of  past  educational  thought  and  practice  as  they 
have  brought  us  down  to  our  present  can  say  in  any 
detail  what  is  the  educational  ideal.  It  will  come, 
when  it  comes,  as  the  issue  of  the  educational  travail 
of  the  ages.  The  children  of  this  generation  cannot 
become  perfect  apart  from  the  children  of  the  former 
times. 

The  utility  of      The  utility  of  an  intensive  study  of  the  history  of 

the  History  of       .  .  ...  .  . 

Education,  education  will  appear  in  the  comprehensive  view, 
unnarrowed  by  the  circle  of  the  present,  of  the  world- 
wide, civilization-old  field  of  education ;  in  the  height- 
ened ability  to  avoid  those  failures  in  practice  and 
to  repeat  those  successes  which  are  there  set  for  our 
instruction;  in  the  knowledge  of  the  origin  of  those 
systems  and  institutions  with  which  we  have  to  work 
to-day;  in  the  inspiration  and  high  enthusiasm  that 
follows  from  touching  hearts  and  hands  with  the  most 
notable  teaching  personalities  of  the  years,  like  Soc- 
rates, Jesus,  and  Pestalozzi;  and  finally  too  in  the 
knowledge  of  those  permanent  principles  of  instruc- 
tion sifted  from  chaff  by  the  winds  of  many  a  trial,  in 
obedience  to  which  the  educational  ideal  is  to  be 
increasingly  attained. 

Several  specific  illustrations  will  now  make  clear  the 
intimacy  existing  between  the  history  and  the  science 
of  education.  The  educational  ideal  is  what  the 
science  of  education  seeks.  The  national  ideal  is 
one  of  the  elements  which  the  history  of  education 


Relation  of  History  to  Science  of  Education    25 

must  include.     Now  it  seems  to  be  true  that  the  edu-  The  Educa- 
cational  ideal  is  both  the  effect  and  the  cause  of  the  National 
national  ideal,  the  effect  of  the  past  national  ideal,  the  Ideals- 
cause  of  the  future  national  ideal.    With  the  national 
ideal  of  freedom  and  democracy  in  America  goes  the 
educational  ideal  of  a  free  and  universal  system  of  in- 
struction;   with  the  national  ideal  of  despotism   and 
repression  in  Russia  goes  the  educational  ideal  of  en- 
lightenment for  the  few  and  ignorance  for  the  many. 
The  setting  of  the  norm  or  standard  of  educating  in 
any  country  is  dependent  upon    that  country's  con- 
ception of  what  a  citizen  ought  to  be.     The  science 
of  education  in  any  period  is  in  part  a  logical  deduc- 
tion from  that  period's  history  and  civilization. 

The  permanent  educational  lesson  of  the  Orient  is  Thc  Lesson 
the  subjection  of  individuality.  There  the  things 
thought  of  are  absolute  rulers,  priests,  caste,  codes  of 
etiquette,  parental  government,  and  there  is  a  sense 
of  the  reality  and  unity  of  the  social  order  inclusive  of 
all  individuals  unimagined  in  a  Western  mind.  All 
this  seems  foreign  enough  to  us.  Yet  no  part  of  the 
race's  life  has  been  spent  in  vain,  and  the  lasting  lesson 
of  the  Orient  is  the  place  of  obedience  in  life.  The 
East  is  the  perpetuation  of  the  childhood  of  the  race. 
The  child  in  the  West  must,  too,  ever  learn  to  obey; 
he  first  is  subjected  to  elders  and  the  old  customs  of 
society  before  he  can  reach  individuality  and  self- 
control. 

The  permanent  educational  lesson  of  the  West  is  The  Lesson 

.  ,  .  of  the  West 

the    expression    of    individuality.     Here    the    things 
thought  of  are  free  thought,  free  speech,  free  action, 


26     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

free  press,  local  self-government,  representative  gov- 
ernment, and  democracy,  —  a  freedom  most  loved 
by  those  once  bound  in  the  shackles  of  some  form  of 
Oriental  suppression  and  now  liberated.  This  lesson 
of  the  West  is  due  to  the  welding  of  Christianity  with 
its  idea  of  the  divine  worth  of  the  individual  to  the 
Teutonic  race  with  its  "demonic  sense  of  individu- 
ality," as  Tacitus  described  it.  To  these  two  influ- 
ences is  due  that  liberty  of  individual  initiative  which 
is  the  chief  glory  of  Western  peoples.  And  our 
schools,  which  are  the  reflection  of  our  life,  demand 
fulness  of  individual  growth.  If  there  be  first  obedi- 
ence, it  is  only  that  later  there  may  be  liberty,  the 
liberty  that  consists  not  in  the  absence  of  law,  but  in 
conformity  to  righteous  law. 
The  Mutual-  The  passivity  of  the  East  is  a  good  balance-wheel 

for  the  activity  of  tne  West-  What  tne  West  has  to 
teach  the  East  is  progress,  investigation,  the  natural 
sciences,  and  the  spirit  of  freedom  ;  what  the  East 
has  to  teach  the  West  is  conservatism,  meditation, 
independence  of  material  environment,  and  the  spirit 
of  restraint.  The  lesson  for  which  each  hemisphere 
stands  it  has  incorporated  into  its  system  of  education. 
In  the  East,  through  the  training  of  memory  and  the 
study  of  the  ancient  classics  of  literature  and  philos- 
ophy, and  the  teaching  of  the  duties  appropriate  to 
each  class  in  society,  the  individual  is  fitted  to  occupy 
his  predestined  place.  In  the  West,  through  the  train- 
ing of  observation,  and  the  study  of  natural  forces, 
and  the  teaching  of  the  duty  to  become  one's  unham- 
pered best  self,  the  individual  is  fitted  to  make  for 


Relation  of  History  to  Science  of  Education    27 

himself  his  own  place.  These  iwo  attitudes  not  so 
much  contradict  as  supplement  each  other,  for  there 
is  an  element  of  determinism  and  there  is  an  element 
of  freedom  in  human  life.  In  short,  the  human  edu- 
cational ideal  must  include  both  the  passive  and  the 
active  elements,  both  conservatism  and  radicalism, 
both  subjection  and  freedom,  both  the  East  and  the 
West.  Thus  is  illustrated  how  the  educational  ideal 
as  sought  by  the  science  of  education  is  a  resultant  of 
the  synthesis  of  the  surviving  national  ideals  as  de- 
scribed by  the  history  of  education. 

In  the  same  fashion  great  civilizations  in  the  East  The  Goal  of 
and  West,  like  Persia,  Egypt,  India,  Judea,  Greece,  toryandthe 
Rome,  would  have  permanent  elements  to  contribute  Educational 

r  .  Ideal. 

out  of  their  practice  of  education  to  the  modern  ideal 
of  education,  which  would  thus  appear  as  the  rich 
resultant  of  many  conveying  forces  in  which  no  frag- 
ment of  a  valuable  ideal  wrought  out  in  any  country 
would  be  lost.  All  of  which  means  to  say  that  the 
educational  ideal  should  be  framed  in  harmony  with 
the  natural  goal  of  human  history.  When  we  ask 
what  is  the  goal  toward  which  human  development 
is  tending,  broad  students  of  history  and  government 
differ  in  their  interpretation.  Many  historians  do  not 
care  to  undertake  the  answer  of  the  question  at  all. 
For  those  who  do  undertake  the  answer,  the  subject 
is  too  great  not  to  differ  about.  A  profound  philos- 
ophy must  underlie  any  answer  that  can  be  given. 
Some  will  maintain  with  Hegel  that  progress  in  self- 
consciousness  is  what  history  means.  Some  will 
maintain  with  such  educational  writers  as  Professor 


28    The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 

Paul  Monroe  and  Professor  Mark  that  the  harmony 
of  the  individual  and  society  is  what  history  is  gradu- 
ally bringing  forth.  Others  will  agree  with  the  wide 
generalization  of  John  Fiske  that  the  development 
of  moral  character  and  progress  toward  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  living  God  is  what  the  history  of  the  world 
is  set  to  accomplish.  Still  others  will  find  themselves 
in  agreement  with  the  mode  of  statement  used  by 
President  Wilson,  viz.  history  means  the  equalization 
of  the  conditions  under  which  individuality  is  developed. 
More  and  more  as  the  swift  seasons  roll  in  every  coun- 
try of  our  planet  man  is  given  the  straight,  square  oppor- 
tunity to  become  what  he  can.  Birth  is  discounted, 
restrictions  are  removed,  wealth  is  no  passport,  poverty 
no  shame,  and  the  strong  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak. 
The  making  equal  of  the  conditions  that  develop  indi- 
viduality means  a  sensitive  social  conscience,  a  respon- 
siveness to  the  inequalities  of  social  conditions.  We 
should  doubtless  all  agree  that  this  result  is  at  least  a 
part  of  the  goal  of  human  history,  in  harmony  with 
which  the  educational  ideal  must  include  the  element 
of  the  socialized  individual:  the  individual  that  is 
quick  in  responding  to  social  need,  intelligent  in  the 
adoption  of  social  means,  and  efficient  in  reaching 
social  ends. 
TheHisto-  ln  its  relations  to  the  ideals  of  education,  the  his- 

ries  of  Edu-  .      .  .        .     .  .  .       .  . 

cation  and      tory  of  education  is  here  viewed  as  a  part  of  the  history 
Civilization.     Qf  civiiizationj  which  treats  of  the  ideas  and  the  ideals 
contributed  by  nations  to  the  life  of  the  world.     The  jus- 
tification of  this  view  appears  in  the  consideration  that 
education  is  one  of  the  most  effective  civilizing  forces 


Relation  of  History  to  Science  of  Education    29 

known  to  man.  No  complete  history  of  civilization 
could  omit  the  educational  element,  as  no  complete 
history  of  education  could  omit  reference  to  those 
national  ideals  recorded  in  the  history  of  civilization. 
The  history  of  education  thus  has  something  to  say 
concerning  the  definition  of  the  educational  ideal. 
That  ideal  cannot  be  framed  in  ignorance  of  the  Greek 
ideal  of  culture,  of  the  Roman  ideal  of  efficiency,  of 
the  Hebrew  ideal  of  goodness,  of  the  mediaeval  ideal 
of  training,  and  the  modern  ideal  of  service. 

The  history  of  education  also  has  something  to  say  The  History 

.    ,  £     .  .  ,         ,        of  Education 

concerning    those    principles    of   instruction    whereby  and  the 
the  ideal  is  to  be  approximately  attained.     The  defi-  Methodsof 

.  Teaching. 

nition  of  the  scientific  method  of  educating  cannot  be 
stated  apart  from  the  concept  of  Socrates,  the  dialectic 
of  Plato,  the  observation  of  Aristotle,  the  parable  of 
Jesus,  the  induction  of  Bacon,  the  sense-perception  of 
Comenius,  the  child-study  of  Rousseau,  and  the  sym- 
pathy of  Pestalozzi.  The  method  of  educating  is  the 
synthesis  of  those  methods  that  the  great  educators 
have  used. 

To  sum  up,  in  conclusion,  the  relations  of  the  his-  Summary, 
tory  to  the  science  of  education,  we  may  say:  (i)  the 
educational  ideal  of  any  nation  is  both  an  effect  and  a 
cause  of  its  national  ideal;  (2)  the  human  educational 
ideal  is  ultimately  definable  only  in  consistency  with 
the  natural  goal  of  historic  human  development;  and 
(3)  the  principles  of  educating  by  which  the  educational 
ideal  is  to  be  approached  are  those  that  the  history  of 
educational  practice  has  vindicated. 


30    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Ideals  of  Different  Ancient  and  Modern  Nations. 

2.  The  Goal  of  Human  History. 

3.  The  Educational  Ideal. 

4.  The  Principles  of  Instruction  used  by  Great  Educators  like 

Socrates. 


REFERENCES  ON  THE  RELATION  OF  THE  HISTORY  TO  THE  SCIENCE 
OF  EDUCATION 

Bourne,  The  Teaching  of  History  and  Civics,  chs.  I  and  V. 

Davidson,  Aristotle,  ch.  V. 

Davidson,  History  of  Education,  pp.  254  et  seq. 

Harris,  Psychologic  Foundations  of  Education,  ch.  XXXIII. 

Hegel,  Philosophy  of  History,  passim. 

Hinsdale,  The  Culture  Value  of  the  History  of  Education,  Proc. 
N.  E.  A.,  pp.  210-231. 

Laurie,  An  Historical  Survey  of  Pre-Christian  Education,  Intro- 
duction. 

Lamprecht,  What  is  History?  chs.  IV  and  V. 

Mark,  Individuality  and  the  Moral  Aim  in  American  Education, 
ch.  I. 

Monroe,  Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education,  ch.  XIV. 

Morris,  "  The  Philosophy  of  the  State  and  of  History,"  in  Methods 
of  Teaching  and  Studying  History,  Boston,  1898,  pp.  149 
et  seq. 

Munroe,  The  Educational  Ideal,  chs.  I  and  X. 

Payne,  Contributions  to  the  Science  of  Education,  ch.  XI. 

Rosenkranz,  The  Philosophy  of  Education,  Part  III. 

Ware,  Educational  Foundations  of  Trade  and  Industry,  ch.  I. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE   PROBLEM   OF   EDUCATION 

UNDER  this  title  I  desire  to  discuss  the  presuppo- 
sitions of  education,  the  different  ideals  of  education, 
the  elements  of  the  problem  of  education,  and  the 
task  of  the  teacher  as  he  assists  in  the  solution  of  the 
problem. 

By  the  presuppositions  of  education  are  meant  those  T* 

,  .  .  ,  1  •    ,        i  i  •          i  positions  of 

things  without  which  the  educational  process  cannot  Education. 
go  on.  These  in  number  are  four,  viz.  the  pupil, 
the  curriculum,  the  educational  environment,  and  the 
teacher.  They  cannot  be  further  reduced;  the  sim- 
plest educational  situation,  even  Garfield's  famous  de- 
scription of  a  college  as  Mark  Hopkins  on  one  end  of 
a  log  and  a  student  on  the  other,  involves  these  four 
elements.  The  efficiency  of  the  educational  process 
is  conditioned  by  the  efficiency  and  harmony  of  these 
cooperating  parts. 

The  pupil  is  the  real  centre  of  the  educational  pro-  The 
cess,  despite  the  fact  that  doceo  shows  the  Romans 
thought  the  person  the  indirect,  but  the  thing  the  direct, 
object  of  instruction.  The  pupil  is  that  immature 
person  about  whom  curriculum,  environment,  and 
teacher  revolve.  He  with  his  fellows  represents  the 
social  potentiality  of  the  present  and  the  social  power 
of  the  future.  We  cannot  too  deeply  impress  our- 

31 


32    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

selves  with  the  conclusion  that  education  as  such  is 
an  abstraction  and  becomes  concrete  only  when  em- 
bodied in  social  individuals. 

TheCurncu-  The  curriculum  is  that  which  the  pupil  is  taught. 
It  involves  more  than  the  acts  of  learning  and  quiet 
study:  it  involves  occupations,  productions,  achieve- 
ments, exercise,  activity.  It  thus  is  representative 
of  the  motor  as  well  as  the  sensory  elements  in  the 
nervous  system  of  the  pupil.  On  the  side  of  society 
it  is  representative  of  what  the  race  has  done  in  its 
contact  with  its  world,  —  the  secrets  of  knowledge 
it  has  wrested  from  the  bosoms  of  nature  and  man, 
the  ideals  of  the  imagination  it  has  embodied  in  per- 
manent forms  of  art,  and  the  deeds  of  man's  will  that 
have  changed  the  face  of  nature  and  the  character  of 
human  society. 

The  Educa-        The    educational    environment    includes    all    those 

Ykonment.  conditions  under  which  the  educational  process  goes 
on.  The  day  is  gone  when  a  log  is  enough.  Gar- 
field's  remark  has  already  served  too  long  the  obstruc- 
tionist to  improvements  of  the  educational  plant.  The 
environment  must  include  buildings,  grounds,  interior 
decoration,  sanitation,  books,  laboratories,  apparatus, 
and  material  for  occupations.  The  more  useful, 
artistic,  neat,  clean,  ample,  the  educational  environ- 
ment, the  more  and  the  better  are  the  responses  of 
pupils.  A  certain  college  president  remarked  he  made 
no  better  investment  of  college  money  than  keeping  the 
grass  on  the  college  campus  well  mown. 

The  Teacher.  The  teacher  is  the  life-sharer.  The  educational 
process  at  bottom  is  the  sharing  of  life.  He  is  my 


The   Problem  of  Education  33 

teacher,  whoever  he  be,  who,  maturer  than  I,  shares 
my  life.  With  his  relatively  mature  life  the  teacher 
enters  into  and  takes  upon  himself  the  lives  of  his 
pupils  that  they  may  become  one  with  him.  However 
mature  he  may  be,  the  teacher  must  see  to  it  that  he 
have  teachers  of  his  own:  those  poets,  priests,  and 
prophets  of  the  rac  in  whose  light  he  sees  light  and 
from  whose  life  his  own  life  is  quickened.  Teaching 
at  bottom  is  the  art  of  stimulating  the  growth  of  the 
soul ;  no  less  conception  of  it  is  quite  true  or  worthy. 
Immature  pupils  of  capacity,  widening  'their  lives 
by  each  of  many  teachers'  lives,  become  individually 
greater  than  any  one  of  their  teachers.  Thus  the 
human  coefficient  is  multiplied  with  the  passage  of 
the  generations.  Thus  the  race  itself  is  incorporat- 
ing more  and  more  of  the  divine  experience  through 
being  taught  of  its  great  ones,  themselves  taught  of 
God.  The  man  or  woman  that  accepts  in  spirit  and 
in  truth  the  office  of  teacher  as  the  sharing  of  life 
comes  into  the  keeping  of  the  secrets  of  the  Most  High. 

These  then  are  the  presuppositions  of  education,  The  Different 
the   things   behind   the   educational   process.     Facing  Education, 
about,  what  are  the  post-suppositions,  as  they  might 
be  called,  of  education,  the  things  before  the  educa- 
tional process,  the  ideals  toward  which  the  movement 
is  directed?    There  are  as  many  answers  to-day  as 
there  have  been  ages  of  civilization  in  the  past.    Among 
these  ideals  for  which  different  times  and  nations  have 
stood  and  for  which  the  modem  educational  world  in 
various  ways  stands  are  to  be  enumerated  the  following : 


j4    The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 

culture,  efficiency,  discipline,  knowledge,  development, 
character,  and  citizenship. 

Culture.  Culture  is  the  capacity  for  the  intellectual  and 

aesthetic  enjoyment  of  leisure;  it  was  the  educational 
ideal  of  ancient  Greece  and  the  inspiration  of  the  lib- 
eral education  of  the  Renaissance;  it  is  a  word  par- 
ticularly needed  by  modern  overworked  society. 

Efficiency.  Efficiency  is  the  ability  to  do  things  quickly  and 
well.  It  was  the  educational  ideal  of  ancient  Rome 
and  is  the  inspiration  of  the  modern  demand  for  prac- 
tical education.  It  is  an  indispensable  word  in  any 
system  of  universal  education,  which  the  Greeks  did 
not  have,  and  in  all  democratic,  progressive,  and  free 
societies. 

Discipline.  Discipline  is  sharpening  the  tools  of  consciousness. 
The  word  has  had  a  great  run  in  educational  history 
from  the  mediaeval  religious  discipline  of  the  soul, 
through  the  later  discipline  of  the  "faculties,"  to  the 
modern  discipline  of  the  mind.  It  will  retain  its  place 
as  an  educational  ideal  to  the  extent  that  the  school 
is  considered  a  place  of  preparation  for  later  living 
instead  of  a  place  of  present  living.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  best  preparation  for  later  living  is  right  pres- 
ent living;  at  the  same  time  present  immature  living 
is  not  so  real  as  later  maturer  living.  For  this  reason 
the  conception  of  discipline  has  a  real,  though  greatly 
limited,  place  in  the  educational  ideal. 

Knowledge.  Knowledge  is  content  of  consciousness  descriptive  of 
fact.  It  is  a  fairly  constant  element  in  the  educational 
ideal  running  through  the  ages,  based  on  the  funda- 
mental human  instincts  of  curiosity  and  wonder. 


The  Problem  of  Education  35 

Under  the  influence  of  the  modern  re-discovery  of 
nature  through  the  stimulus  of  Bacon's  "  Novum  Or- 
ganum"  and  the  English  empirical  school  led  by  Locke, 
knowledge  became  the  dominant  ideal  of  education, 
as  illustrated  in  the  Pansophic  plans  of  Comenius. 
The  presence  of  the  natural  and  physical  sciences  in 
the  modern  curriculum  is  witness  to  this  ideal.  The 
joy  of  scientific  discovery  will  ever  remain  a  part  of 
the  scholar's  portion.  The  field  of  human  knowledge 
is  too  broad  for  any  future  Aristotle  to  compass  it 
satisfactorily  for  thirty  succeeding  generations.  The 
preservation  of  old,  and  the  pursuit  of  new,  knowledge 
will  ever  remain  a  part  of  an  inclusive  educational 
ideal. 

Development   as   an   educational   ideal   means   the 

..        •  »    i  .  .  .1  ment 

realization  of  the  capacities  inherent  in  human  nature. 
The  emphasis  upon  this  ideal  began  with  Rousseau 
and  was  continued  by  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel.  The 
conception  that  consciousness  grows  and  is  not  made 
was  prior  to  Darwin's  theory  that  the  body  grows  and 
is  not  made,  and  the  influence  of  the  ideal  of  develop- 
ment on  education  is  analogous  in  extent  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  theory  of  evolution  on  science.  Through 
its  influence  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  attribute  to 
education  the  making  of  men  and  women;  all  that 
education  does  is  to  bring  to  the  fruition  native  po- 
tentiality. The  increase  of  potentiality  in  the  race  is 
nature's  work  through  the  mating  of  strong  person- 
alities. Education  adds  nothing  directly  to  human 
endowment,  but  does  make  it  usable.  It  ought  now 
to  go  further  and  begin  to  fit  for  wise  parenthood. 


36    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

As  development  is  the  true  mode  of  growth  it  can  never 
cease  to  be  a  portion  of  the  educational  ideal. 

Character.  Character  is  the  disposition  of  a  person's  will.  It 
is  the  great  word  introduced  into  the  theory  of  the  aim 
of  education  by  Herbart,  who  himself  received  it  from 
his  predecessor,  the  sage  of  Konigsberg,  Immanuel 
Kant.  It  is  Kant  who  says  the  only  absolutely  good 
thing  in  the  world  is  a  good  will.  The  great  German 
idealists,  Fichte  and  Hegel,  take  up  the  strain  that  the 
end  of  education  is  the  formation  of  moral  character. 
Schopenhauer  agrees  with  Kant  in  attaching  primacy 
to  the  will.  The  great  common  sense  of  mankind  has 
always  held  that  the  head  must  not  be  educated  at  the 
expense  of  the  heart.  The  feelings  of  worth  attaching 
to  the  life  devoted  to  righteousness  demand  that 
character  form  a  permanent  constituent  of  the  educa- 
tional ideal. 

Citizenship.  Citizenship  is  man's  place  in  the  state.  It  is  the 
most  recent  of  the  words  that  have  come  to  the  fore 
concerning  the  true  ideal  of  education,  so  recent  that 
perhaps  no  leader  of  the  movement  can  be  selected, 
though  the  name  of  Horace  Mann  may  be  mentioned. 
The  ideal  of  citizenship,  of  taking  one's  place  in  the 
state,  appears  prominently  in  the  aristocratic  Repub- 
lic of  Plato,  but  his  education  after  all  is  mainly  for 
the  philosopher  kings  rather  than  the  artisan  subjects. 
The  modern  revival  of  the  study  of  history,  the  new 
sciences  of  economics  and  sociology,  and  the  magni- 
tude of  modern  social  and  political  problems,  have 
all  tended  to  emphasize  the  educational  ideal  of  citi- 
zenship, particularly  in  America,  the  country  that  has 


The  Problem  of  Education  37 

done  most  for  the  individuality  of  its  citizens.  As 
the  state  is  one  of  the  permanent  institutions  of  society, 
and  as  man  must  ever  live  in  organized  relations  with 
his  fellows,  citizenship  cannot  be  omitted  from  the 
constituency  of  the  educational  ideal. 

From  this  brief  review  of  the  different  educational 
ideals  of  past  and  present  we  are  at  once  face  to  face 
with  the  first  of  the  elements  of  the  problem  of  educa- 
tion, viz.  a  definition  of  the  educational  ideal. 

Among  the  elements  that  go  into  the  composition  TheEie- 

r       ,  i  i«iii  i  ments  of  the 

of    the   complex    educational   problem   may  be  enu-  problem  of 
merated  the  following:  (i)  the  organization  of  the  edu-  Education- 
cational  ideal;    (2)  the  securing  of  the  attendance  of 
pupils  in  school;    (3)  the  provision  of  a  worthy  cur- 
riculum;   (4)   the   provision  of  a  worthy  educational 
environment;     and    (5)    the   approximate    attainment 
of  the  educational  ideal  in  practice.     The  immediate 
relationship  between  the  presuppositions  of  education 
and  the  elements  of  the  problem  of  education  will 
be  observed. 

The  organization  of  the  educational  ideal  as  one  of  Theory, 
the  elements  of  the  problem  of  education  falls  to  the 
lot  of  the  educational  theorist.  He  will  probably 
find  that  the  educational  ideal  is  no  single  one  of  the 
various  historic  ideals  reviewed  above,  but  is  a  synthesis 
of  them  all  with  due  emphasis  upon  each.  Not  in 
the  part  but  in  the  whole  is  the  truth  to  be  found. 
For  the  individual's  sake,  education  must  aim  at  cul- 
ture,  knowledge,  and  development ;  for  society's  sake, 
it  must  aim  at  efficiency,  character,  and  citizenship. 


3  8    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

And  when  this  is  said  it  must  be  quickly  added 
that  the  individual  aims  are  also  secondarily  social, 
and  the  social  aims  are  also  secondarily  individual. 

Attendance.  The  securing  of  the  attendance  of  pupils  in  school 
as  one  of  the  elements  in  the  problem  of  education 
falls  especially  to  the  lot  of  parents  and  society.  How 
the  responsibility  rests  upon  parents  is  obvious.  It 
will  also  be  observed  how  society  itself  is  responsible 
in  the  form  of  public  opinion,  compulsory  attendance 
laws,  the  employment  of  child  labor  in  factories,  an 
educational  qualification  for  the  suffrage,  etc.  Sec- 
ondarily, what  the  school  itself  is  plays  a  part  in  the 
attendance  problem. 

Curriculum.  The  provision  of  a  worthy  curriculum  and  educa- 
tional environment  as  elements  taken  together  in  the 
problem  of  education  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  adminis- 
trative authorities  and  teachers  of  the  school.  Through 
these  alone  the  curriculum  is  determined,  and  through 
these  mainly  is  to  be  fostered  that  public  opinion 
which  by  taxation  liberally  supports  the  school  sys- 
tem. Wisdom  is  as  much  needed  to-day  in  the  expen- 
diture of  school  funds  already  provided  as  tact  in  se- 
curing larger  appropriations. 

Practice.  The  approximate  attainment  of  the  educational 

ideal  in  practice,  the  most  vital  of  all  the  elements  of 
the  problem  of  education,  falls  primarily  to  the  lot  of 
the  teacher.  He  it  is  that,  given  the  aim,  the  pupils, 
the  curriculum,  the  environment,  must  stimulate  and 
direct  the  growth  of  human  souls.  He  is  the  only 
essential  factor  in  solving  the  problem  of  education, 
as  witness  Socrates  and  Jesus.  A  really  great  teacher 


The  Problem  of  Education  39 

anywhere  attracts  pupils,  makes  the  curriculum  worthy, 
consecrates  any  environment,  and  is  himself  the  educa- 
tional ideal.  We  may  come  somewhat  closer  to  the 
task  of  the  teacher. 

The  task  of  the  teacher  involves  at  least  four  ele-  The  Task  of 

the  Teacher. 

ments,  viz.,  first,  so  to  instruct  and  to  occupy  as  to 
develop  his  pupils.  Information  is  communicated,  Developer, 
gathered,  or  elicited  from  pupils'  minds  in  a  way  to 
realize  power,  and  occupations  are  provided  in  a  way 
both  to  arouse  and  to  satisfy  interest,  and  to  attain 
skill.  The  teacher,  whether  by  sensory  or  motor 
material,  is  the  developer. 

Second,  it  is  the  task  of  the  teacher  to  be  the  me-  Mediator, 
dium  of  communication  between  the  pupils'  mind  and 
the  subject-matter.  Without  him,  it  is  dead  stuff  to 
them.  He  knows  both  them  and  it.  From  it  he 
selects  those  things  they  can  bear  and  them  he  gradu- 
ally widens  to  cover  it.  Without  him,  they  are  self- 
taught,  and  so  poorly  taught ;  with  him,  their  growth 
is  consecutive  and  the  subject  appears  in  its  intrinsic 
and  extrinsic  articulation.  The  teacher,  between  im- 
personal truth  and  personal  life,  is  the  mediator. 

Third,  it  is  the  task  of  the  teacher  to  interpret  life  interpreter. 
to  his  pupils.  Living  is  the  great  art.  In  its  keeping 
are  the  keys  of  destiny.  Through  inexperience  the 
art  of  living  well  is  difficult  to  pupils.  Through  his 
wider  experience  and  observation  the  teacher  is,  or 
ought  to  be,  comparatively  a  master  of  the  art  of  liv- 
ing. To  him  are  known  the  shallows  and  the  rocks 
and  also  the  great  safe  deep,  with  the  harbor  beyond. 


40    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

While  his  pupils  are  with  him,  he  is  their  advisory, 
not  compulsory,  pilot;  from  him  they  learn  the  art 
of  steering  well  the  vessel  of  life.  It  is  a  vessel  al- 
ways freighted  with  merchandise  precious  to  others. 
Figures  aside,  the  teacher,  by  his  daily  walk  and  conver- 
sation, throws  in  true  perspective  the  good  and  bad 
of  life,  translates  into  the  language  of  immaturity 
life's  great  words  of  truth,  is  the  interpreter  of  life. 
The  Priest  of  Fourth,  as  if  what  has  preceded  were  not  enough, 
as  if  to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given  and  he  shall  have 
abundantly,  it  is  the  task  of  the  teacher  to  perfect 
mind,  —  the  last  instrument  selected  in  evolutionary 
progress.  Evolution  is  now  proceeding  along  mental 
instead  of  physical  lines.  Mental  competition  has 
taken  the  place  of  the  old  physical  struggle  for  survival. 
The  last  innings  are  those  of  the  spirit ;  upon  the  treat- 
ment of  the  spirit  in  this  epoch  of  the  world's  change 
depends  the  next  destiny  of  the  human  race.  Long 
before  the  time  allotted  by  the  astronomers  for  our 
planet  to  become  a  dead  frozen  ball  humanity  will 
have  decided  whether  the  gift  of  the  spirit  is  too  much 
for  it  or  no.  The  content  of  historic  time  and  a  pro- 
found philosophy  unite  in  an  optimistic  outlook,  — 
spirit  will  preserve  itself,  man  will  become  yet  greater. 
The  whole  weight  of  the  teacher's  influence  is  cast  for 
the  individual  and  social  preservation  of  the  spirit; 
he  brings  souls  into  their  kingdom.  He  is  the 
prophet  and  priest  of  progress. 

Because  of  the  greatness  of  his  task,  let  the  teacher 
magnify  his  office.  But  lest  he  magnify  it  unduly 
and  the  vice  of  pride  supplant  the  virtue  of  humility, 


The  Problem  of  Education  41 

let  him  remember  his  fellow-servants,  the  parent,  the 
statesman,  the  minister,  and  also  that  to  no  one  nor  all 
of  these  does  this  world  and  its  future  belong,  nor  are 
their  tasks  self-appointed. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Definition  of  the  Educational  Ideal. 

2.  Theory  and  Content  of  the  Curriculum. 

3.  The  Mental  Basis  of  Evolution. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  PROBLEM  OF  EDUCATION 

Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  chs.  VII,  VIII,  XI,  and 

XXII. 

Hadley,  The  Education  of  the  American  Citizen,  pp.  150-160. 
Henderson,  Education  and  the  Larger  Life,  chs.  II,  IV,  and  XL 
Hughes,  The  Making  of  Citizens,  Introduction. 
Monroe,  Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education,  ch.  XIV. 
Search,  An  Ideal  School,  ch.  XII. 
Tucker,  "The  Sacredness  of  Citizenship,"  Proc.   R.  E.  A.y  Vol. 

Ill,  pp.  56  et  seq. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  ESSENTIAL  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE  TEACHER 

THE  pertinence  of  this  theme  to  the  preceding  dis- 
cussion is  obvious.  The  teacher's  part  in  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  education  is  predominant  and  his 
consequent  task  is  great.  What  are  the  qualifications 
essential  to  its  performance? 

The  limitation  "essential"  in  the  title  is  important. 
To  enumerate  all  the  qualifications  of  the  teacher  would 
comprise  an  account  of  all  the  elements  of  manhood. 
Here  I  simply  wish  to  write  of  those  things  without  any 
one  of  which  a  prospective  teacher  should  resign  his 
intention. 

what  are  it  is  a  familiar  remark  of  Dr.  Arnold's  that  the 

qualifications  for  which  he  looked  in  teachers  were 
character,  tact,  and  scholarship.  Taking  this  sugges- 
tion from  a  great  head-master  as  a  starting  point,  and 
reversing  the  order  for  purposes  of  discussion,  there 
seem  to  me  to  be  four  indispensable  qualifications  of 
the  teacher,  viz.  a  knowledge  of  the  subject  taught, 
a  knowledge  of  the  pupils  taught,  the  ability  to  teach, 
and  a  worthy  character.  Once  again  we  are  led  to 
remember  the  presuppositions  of  education,  already 
discussed.  If  the  teacher  is  master  of  these,  that  is, 

of  his  subject,  of  his  pupils,  of  his  equipment,  and  of 

42 


Essential  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher     43 

himself,  he  is  qualified  to  teach.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
the  colleges  and  universities  in  their  preparation  of 
teachers  have  underemphasized  the  knowledge  of  the 
pupils  and  the  ability  to  teach,  that  the  normal  schools 
have  underemphasized  the  knowledge  of  the  subject, 
while  all  have  agreed  in  affirming  that  a  worthy  charac- 
ter is  necessary.  Each  of  these  qualifications,  re- 
garded as  essential,  must  now  receive  attention  in 
succession. 


And  first,  the  knowledge  of  the  subject.     Why  must  The 
the  teacher  know  his  subject?    It  would  be  a  super-  subject. 
fluous  question  if  teachers  really  knew  their  subjects. 
Let  us  urge  with  several  reasons  an  accurate  and  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  their  subjects  upon  all  teachers. 
It  seems  so  obvious  to  observe  that  we  cannot  teach  Wlthout 

Knowledge 

what  we  do  not  know.     The  Frenchman  Jacotot,  how-  no  Teaching 

ever,  said  this  very  thing  could  be  done,  and  our  prac- 

tice is  often  in  accord  with  his  theory.     We  fish  and 

catch  what  pupils  know  when  our  own  basket  is  empty. 

When  they  ask  us  questions  we  cannot  answer;  we  tell 

them  that  would  be  a  good  thing  to  look  up.     It  is  bet- 

ter in  theory  and  practice  to  follow  Plato,  "  No  one  can 

give  to  another  that  which  he  has  not  himself,  or  teach 

that  of  which  he  has  no  knowledge."  l 

Again,  he  must  know  the  advanced  principles  of  his 
subject  in  order  to  be  able  to  teach  its  elements.     No  Little. 
one  can  teach  all  he  knows.     To  teach  as  much  as  he 
has  to  teach,  he  must  know  more.    To  teach  the  lower 
he  must  be  capable  of  teaching  the  higher.     The  lower 

1  Symposium,  196  E,  tr.  Jowett. 


44    The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 


Knowledge 

begets 

Enthusiasm 


'AX 


is  intelligible  only  in  the  light  of  the  higher.  It  takes 
the  calculus,  if  we  but  knew  it,  to  get  from  i  to  2 ;  it 
takes  comparative  philology,  if  we  but  knew  it,  to  get 
from  a  to  Z>,  especially  to  get  from  b  to  c.  The  great 
universities  put  their  large  elementary  classes  in  any 
subject  into  the  keeping  of  their  most  advanced  pro- 
fessors. 

Again,  an  increasing  knowledge  of  his  subject  begets 
a  real  enthusiasm  hi  the  teacher.  In  his  case  as  well  as 
with  his  pupils  interest  follows  in  the  wake  of  growing 
knowledge.  He  comes  into  his  class  room  with  the 
ardor  of  achievement  about  him.  Nothing  spreads 
more  rapidly  than  a  genuine  feeling.  His  class  catches 
his  spirit;  his  developing  knowledge,  his  real  interest, 
arouse  them  also.  Together  they  can  now  work,  and 
a  new  dynamic,  the  power  of  an  enthusiastic  interest, 
is  introduced  into  school  life.  It  will  come  through  one 
well-endowed  teacher  knowing  his  subject. 

A  knowledge  of  his  subject  begets,  further,  a  certain 
degree  of  self-confidence  in  the  teacher.  Not  to  know 
what  he  ought  to  know  in  the  class  room  makes  the 
teacher  nervous,  ill  at  ease,  and  afraid  of  the  questions 
of  his  bright  pupils.  Ignorance  of  the  subject  one  is 
teaching  is  safe  only  in  an  atmosphere  of  repression 
and  dull  sloth.  To  know  his  subject  permits  the  teacher, 
unabashed,  to  answer  some  questions  with  a  confession 
of  ignorance,  because  as  yet  nobody  knows  their  answer, 
or,  perchance,  they  are  beyond  his  field. 

and  the  It  is  also  true  that  knowledge  of  his  subject  begets 

Class601      *  respect  for  the  teacher  from  the  class,  particularly  if  he 

have  a  commanding  personality.     It  hurts  the  influence 


and  Self- 
confidence, 


Essential  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher       45 

of  the  teacher  to  be  caught  in  a  mistake  when  he  should 
have  known  better.  Not  that  the  air  of  infallibility  is 
to  be  cultivated,  but  that  the  subject  is  so  mastered  that 
the  teacher  knows  what  to  say,  if  he  says  anything  at 
all.  One  of  the  sad  banes  of  teaching  is  the  easy 
ability  to  answer  pupils'  questions  without  knowing 
the  answer.  In  subjects  requiring  muscular  skill  like 
gymnastics,  manual  training,  music,  drawing,  it  must 
very  early  become  evident  that  the  teacher  can  really 
do  the  things  he  wants  the  pupils  to  do. 

One  other  reason  still  why  it  is  essential  that  teachers  Knowiedp 

J  gives  Right 

should  know  their  subjects  is  to  be  added,  especially  Perspective. 
for  the  sake  of  the  pupils,  viz.  that  teachers  may  know 
what  to  emphasize  and  what  to  omit  in  a  subject.  A 
lesson  is  very  much  like  a  picture,  having  a  foreground 
and  a  background.  There  are  essentials  to  be  stressed 
and  non-essentials  to  be  passed  over  lightly.  The 
framework  of  the  discussion  should  stand  out  clearly 
for  all ;  it  may  even  be  written  on  the  board,  while  many 
things  in  the  text  may  simply  drop  into  the  background 
where  they  belong.  It  is  the  teacher  who  does  not 
know  his  subject  that  considers  one  thing  as  important 
as  another. 
Probably  nobody  in  America  believes  less  in  pedagogy  Professor 

°J    Munsterberg 

than   Professor  Munsterberg ;    and   probably  nobody  On  School 
believes  more  in  reforming  our  schools  than  does  he.  Reform- 
He  places  his  emphasis  in  school  reform  on  the  better 
instruction  of  teachers.     He  writes:1    "Just  as  it  has 
been  said  that  war  needs  three  things,  money,  money, 
and  again  money,  so  it  can  be  said  with  much  greater 

1  "School  Reform,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  May,  1900. 


46    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

truth  that  education  needs,  not  forces  and  buildings, 
not  pedagogy  and  demonstrations,  but  only  men,  men, 
and  again  men,  —  without  forbidding  that  some,  not 
too  many  of  them,  shall  be  women.  .  .  .  No  one 
ought  to  be  allowed  to  teach  in  the  grammar  school 
who  has  not  passed  through  a  college  or  a  good  normal 
school ;  no  one  ought  to  teach  in  a  high  school  who  has 
not  worked  after  his  college  course,  at  least  two  years 
in  the  graduate  school  of  a  good  university;  no  one 
ought  to  teach  in  a  college  who  has  not  taken  his 
doctor's  degree  in  one  of  the  best  universities ;  and  no 
one  ought  to  teach  in  a  graduate  school  who  has  not 
shown  his  mastery  of  method  by  powerful  scientific 
publications.  We  have  instead  a  misery  which  can  be 
characterized  by  one  statistical  fact :  only  two  per  cent 
of  the  school  teachers  possess  any  degree  whatever." 
The  Need  of  Having  read  so  far  perhaps  the  resolution  is  now 
and  Psycho-  forming  in  our  minds  to  get  hold  of  the  bottom  of  our 
Logical  subjects.  If  so,  let  me  attempt  to  say  a  directing  word. 

A  text-book  knowledge  is  not  enough.  It  is  deductive ; 
it  moves  from  principles  to  illustrations;  it  is  well 
arranged  and  classified,  and  all  this  is  very  good.  But 
this  is  not  enough.  We  need  to  get  at  the  very  facts 
that  make  text-books  possible.  We  want  the  sources 
of  our  subject,  its  growth  through  the  ages,  the  dis- 
coveries that  mark  its  epochs,  its  services  to  man.  In 
short,  to  the  logical,  deductive,  and  formal  knowledge 
of  the  subject  add  the  psychological,  the  inductive,  and 
vital.  This  also  helps  to  give  the  teacher  the  learner's 
point  of  view,  who  is  always  advancing  in  any  subject 
from  less  to  more. 


Essential  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher       47 

As  we  pursue  an  intimate  acquaintanceship  with  that  Cautions 
branch  of  human  knowledge  we  have  chosen  to  teach,  Knowledge  of 
especially  if  we  are  sufficiently  grounded  in  it  to  be  the  Subject, 
termed  specialists,  it  is  necessary  to  add  two  words  of 
caution.  We  must  not  neglect  the  art  of  teaching  and 
we  must  not  lose  interest  in  men.  The  art  of  teaching 
requires  such  a  different  attitude  of  mind  from  the 
original  pursuit  of  knowledge  that  not  many  investi- 
gators can  teach  at  all.  The  investigator  is  inquiring 
for  himself;  the  teacher  is  leading  the  inquiries  of 
others.  Thus  there  is  a  certain  self-surrender  in 
teaching  which  great  investigators  are  loath  to  make. 
And  lose  not  interest  in  men  through  absorption  in 
things.  The  personal  quality  pervades  the  teaching 
relationship,  while  investigating  pursues  an  impersonal 
truth.  The  great  scholar  finds  himself  often  becoming 
remote  from  men,  as  the  German  lecturer  who  rushes 
into  his  room,  delivers  what  he  has  written,  and  is  gone 
again,  without  access  from  his  hearers. 

The  teacher  then  must  know  his  subject ;  this  is  his  Knowledge 

-  .    .  ....  .      ,    ,  of  the  Pupil 

first  essential  qualification.  And  he  must  also  know 
his  pupils;  this  is  his  second  essential  qualification. 
Now  there  are  two  kinds  of  knowledge  of  pupils,  viz.  Kinds, 
of  them  as  individuals,  unlike  all  others,  and  of  them  as 
a  class,  like  all  others.  No  two  pupils,  even  twins,  are 
exactly  alike ;  this  is  their  individuality.  And  any  two 
pupils,  even  unrelated  by  blood  or  race,  are  very  much 
alike ;  this  is  their  common  nature  as  immature  minds 
developing  according  to  certain  psychological  laws. 
Now  our  qualification  is  intended  to  cover  both  kinds 


48     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Knowledge 
of  Individ- 
uals. 


It  magnifies 
Influence. 


of  knowledge  of  pupils;  the  teacher  must  know  the 
individual  pupil,  however  difficult  in  large  classes,  and 
the  teacher  must  know  the  general  pupil,  however 
abstract  the  psychological  science  that  describes  him. 

Why  must  the  teacher  know  the  individual  pupil? 
There  are  two  elements  in  the  answer.  In  the  first 
place,  because  no  general  principle  of  dealing  with 
pupils  is  exactly  applicable  to  this  individual.  Our 
individuality  means  just  this:  we  cannot  be  treated 
successfully  according  to  a  mechanical  pattern.  Each 
individual  is  unique,  is  one  of  a  kind,  is  sui  generis. 
This  variation  inherent  in  individuality  demands  a 
constant  adjustment  of  principle  to  personality;  it 
makes  the  schoolroom  an  organism,  not  a  mechanism. 
So  real  is  the  necessity  of  adapting  principles  to  persons 
that,  as  we  had  occasion  to  see  in  Chapter  I,  it  has 
been  claimed  that  education  can  never  become  a  science. 
Though  disagreeing  with  this  conclusion,  the  presence 
of  individual  variation  does  mean  the  omnipresence  of 
the  art  element  in  putting  the  science  into  practice. 
The  teacher  will  find  that  the  best  place  to  learn  his 
pupils  individually  is  not  in  the  class  room  but  on  the 
playground,  on  trips,  down  the  street,  and  in  the 
home. 

This  leads  to  the  second  consideration  why  teachers 
should  know  their  pupils  individually.  Personal  knowl- 
edge gives  the  teacher -peculiar  influence  over  pupils. 
We  all  like  to  be  remembered  and  known  by  name. 
The  teaching  relation  is  at  its  full  power  only  when 
there  is  a  real  person  at  each  end  of  it.  In  this  con- 
nection teachers  may  well  ponder  the  incident  in  which 


Essential  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher       49 

Jesus  removes  the  doubt  of  Nathanael  as  to  whether 
any  good  thing  could  come  out  of  Nazareth  with  those 
words  of  personal  knowledge,  "Before  Philip  called 
thee,  when  thou  wast  under  the  fig  tree,  I  saw  thee." 
It  is  almost  sure  to  be  the  case  that  the  pupils  who  give 
us  trouble  are  those  we  do  not  really  understand. 

A  caution  must  be  given  also  in  connection  with  this  Caution  con. 
knowledge   of   the   individual   pupil.     Nobody   would  Knowledge 
question  the  position  probably  that  the  school  exists  of  the  Pupil, 
for  the  pupil,  not  the  pupil  for  the  school.     But  the 
school  exists  for  the  pupil  in  his  inherent  rationality, 
not  in  his  caprice.     So  in  knowing  and  sympathizing 
with   the   individual  pupil,   we  must  not  forget  nor 
neglect  to  subject  his  whims  to  the  law  of  the  school. 
We  know  him  not  to  weaken  him  by  indulgence,  but 
to  strengthen  him  by  incentives. 

The  teacher  must  also  know  the  general  pupil,  that 
is,  the  laws  of  development  common  to  all  immature 
minds.  At  this  point  he  draws  upon  all  the  sciences 
of  young  and  adolescent  life,  particularly  the  science  of 
psychology.  Upon  this  point  we  will  reserve  further 
remark  until  the  succeeding  chapter. 

Knowledge  of  the  subject  does  not  make  a  teacher,  The  Ability 
knowledge  of  the  pupil  does  not  make  a  teacher.  Both 
of  these  combined  do  not  alone  make  a  teacher.  There 
must  also  be  the  teaching  ability.  This  is  a  rather 
complex  qualification  which  we  must  undertake  to 
analyze,  inquiring  first  concerning  its  source. 

The  ability  to  teach  has  its  rise  in  two  sources,  viz.  it*  two 

.....  .       Sources. 

heredity  and  training.     The  great  teacher  is  born;   he 


50    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

is  also  made ;  but  his  nature  gifts  are  more  important 
than  his  acquisitions  through  training.  A  born  teacher 
may  succeed  without  training;  a  trained  teacher  can- 
not succeed  without  native  gifts.  There  are  many 
born  teachers,  technically  untrained,  doing  successful 
work  to-day;  there  are  no  successful  made  teachers. 
The  best  training  can  do  is  to  add  an  increment  of 
power  to  native  gifts;  it  can  never  supply  the  lack  of 
those  gifts.  Pestalozzi  the  great  was  nodding  when  he 
wrote  that  instruction  must  be  mechanized.  The 
teacher's  native  gifts  include  such  things  as  tact, 
sympathy  with  young  life,  resourcefulness,  a  sense  of 
humor,  and  buoyant  temperament.  Such  things  train- 
ing at  most  can  cultivate,  but  it  can  neither  give  them 
nor  take  them  away. 

What  Plato  said  of  oratory  can  be  said  of  teaching : 
"The  perfection  of  oratory  is,  or  rather  must  be,  like 
the  perfection  of  all  things,  partly  given  by  nature; 
but  this  is  assisted  by  art,  and  if  you  have  the  natural 
power,  you  will  be  famous  as  a  rhetorician,  if  you  only 
add  knowledge  and  practice,  and  in  either  you  may  fall 
short."  (Phaedrus  269  D.)  Young  persons  without 
such  native  gifts  should  be  discouraged  from  under- 
taking the  profession  of  teaching.  But  given  them, 
in  the  interest  of  fullest  efficiency  a  careful  training 
should  also  be  added. 

The  training  of  the  teacher  consists  essentially  in  the 
knowledge  and  use  of  method.  Having  just  indicated 
the  superior  importance  of  hereditary  gifts,  I  shall  not 
be  misunderstood  now  if  I  have  a  good  deal  to  say  in 
defence  of  a  rational  method  of  instruction.  This  is 


Essential  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher       51 

one  of  the  weakest  spots  in  both  our  theory  of  education 
and  our  school  practice. 

Every  teacher  should  know  and  use  a  scientific  Knowledge 
method  of  instruction.  And  this  for  two  reasons  that 
those  who  inveigh  most  against  method  cannot  gainsay. 
The  first  is,  some  method  is  unavoidable.  In  the  last 
analysis,  method  is  but  the  way  of  doing  a  thing,  and 
all  teachers,  whether  trained  or  no,  have  and  must 
have  some  way  of  setting  about  their  work.  In  this 
sense,  to  cast  out  method  in  teaching  is  to  cast  out 
teaching  itself.  The  second  reason  is,  since  method 
of  some  kind  is  inevitable,  we  ought  to  use  the  best 
available.  The  teacher  must  not  excuse  his  inertia 
in  discovering  right  method  by  supposing  there 
is  no  right  method  to  discover.  When  you  confess 
failure  to  yourself  in  your  class-room  work,  then  is  the 
time  to  reexamine  your  method. 

Now  concerning  method  hi  teaching:  in  the  large 
there  are  six  kinds,  which  I  will  enumerate  in  pairs. 
General  and  special  method  go  together  as  the  first  pair.  General  and 
General  method  is  an  account  of  those  principles  in  Method, 
teaching  applicable  to  all  subjects  alike;  special 
method  is  an  account  of  those  principles  in  teaching 
applicable  to  only  one  subject,  as,  for  example,  arith- 
metic. The  Herbartian  "formal  steps  in  teaching" 
is  the  most  notable  illustration  of  general  method. 
There  is  great  need  to-day  of  their  revision:  first, 
to  bring  them  more  into  connection  with  the  mind's 
real  mode  of  acquisition,  and  second,  to  enable 
them  to  reach  the  feelings  and  will  as  well  as  the 
intellect. 


52    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


inductive 
tive  Method 


Empirical 


The  second  pair  of  methods  is  the  inductive  and 
^e  deductive.  Inductive  method  moves  from  the  par- 
ticular instance  to  the  general  principle,  as  in  Harper 
and  Tolman's  "  Csesar."  Deductive  method  moves  from 
the  general  principle  to  its  particular  application,  as  hi 
geometrical  proofs. 

The  third  pair  of  methods  is  the  empirical  and  the 
scientific.  The  empirical  method  in  teaching  is  due  to 
imitation,  habit,  tradition,  accident,  or  experiment. 
'Tis  pity  'tis  so  common.  The  teacher's  golden  rule 
has  been,  said  to  be,  teach  unto  others  as  others  taught 
unto  you.  Scientific  method  is  due  to  the  union  of  the 
law  in  the  subject  and  the  law  in  the  mind  ;  it  is  based 
on  the  experience  of  the  race  and  the  applied  sciences 
of  man.  Empirical  method  is  based  on  limited  observa- 
tion, is  limited  hi  its  application,  and  is  uncertain  in 
its  conclusions;  scientific  method  is  based  on  wide 
observation,  is  practically  universal  in  its  application, 
and  is  practically  certain  in  its  conclusions. 

From  this  cursory  review  of  the  kinds  of  method  it 
is  evident  that  teachers  need  to  know  something  about 
both  general  method  and  special  method  in  their  sub- 
jects ;  about  the  relative  value  and  place  of  the  induc- 
tive and  deductive  methods;  and  about  the  nature  of 
scientific  method.  It  will  also  be  noted  that  these 
kinds  of  method  are  not  intended  to  be  distinct  from 
each  other  ;  the  following  pages,  for  example,  intend  to 
include  certain  things  about  general,  inductive,  deduc- 
tive, and  scientific  method. 

We  have  said  that  the  knowledge  and  use  of  method 
in  teaching  is  one  of  the  elements,  though  secondary 


Essential  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher       53 
to  native  talents,  in  the  ability  to  teach.     It  remains  Cautions  in 

.  ,    the  Use  of 

here  also  to  add  certain  cautions  about  the  use  of  Method, 
method  in  teaching.  First,  method  is  the  letter  of 
instruction;  the  teacher  is  its  spirit.  Second,  method 
should  be  felt,  but  not  seen,  by  the  class.  It  is  like  the 
skeleton  in  the  body,  indispensable  as  an  invisible 
support  but  grewsome  in  its  bareness.  Third,  method 
must  be  varied,  however  good.  The  best  method  will 
succumb  to  regularity  and  monotony  of  procedure. 
The  teacher's  ingenuity  is  taxed  to  vary  the  method 
unfailingly  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way. 

Perhaps  the  least  said  about  the  teacher's  charac-  TheTeach- 
ter,  after  naming  it  as  essential,  is  most  said.  Let  ter. 
it  be  sane,  decisive,  stable,  honest,  and  righteous. 
Sanity  of  character  means  proportion ;  decisiveness  of 
character  makes  the  teacher  an  individual,  whose 
position  can  be  understood  and  has  to  be  reckoned 
with;  stability  of  character  raises  him  above  solicita- 
tion; honesty  of  character  hesitates  not  to  condemn 
the  poor  work  of  pupils  whose  feelings  he  would  like 
to  shield;  and  righteousness  of  character  sets  eternity 
in  his  heart.  Society  will  always  have  its  teachers; 
their  character  should  match  the  permanence  of  their 
office. 

"The  teacher  lives  forever.     On  and  on 
Through  all  the  generations  he  shall  preach 
The  beautiful  evangel ;  —  on  and  on 
Till  our  poor  race  has  passed  the  tortuous  years 
That  lie  fore-reaching  the  millennium, 
And  far  into  that  broad  and  open  sea 


54    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

He  shall  sail,  singing  still  the  songs  he  taught 

To  the  world's  youth,  and  shall  sing  them  o'er  and  o'er 

To  lapping  waters,  till  the  thousand  leagues 

Are  overpast,  —  and  argosy  and  crew 

Ride  at  their  port." 

PROBLEMS 

1.  Other  Desirable  Qualifications  of  the  Teacher. 

2.  The  Power  of  Personality  in  Teaching. 

3.  The  Qualities  of  Jesus  as  Teacher. 

4.  The  Characteristics  of  the  Great  Historic  Teachers. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  QUALIFICATIONS  or  THE 
TEACHER 

Barnett,  Common  Sense  in  Education  and  Teaching,  ch.  XII. 

Fitch,  Lectures  on  Teaching,  pp.  9  et  seq. 

Hinsdale,  Teaching  the  Language  Arts,  ch.  XLX. 

Payne,  Lectures  on  the  Science  and  Art  of  Education,  pp.  103-123. 

Tarver,  Debateable  Claims,  chs.  VI  and  VII. 

White,  School  Management,  pp.  17-47. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  CONTRIBUTION  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  TO  A  SCIENCE 
OF  EDUCATION 

THIS  is  a  question  now  nearly  a  century  old.  It  was  status  of  the 
present  at  the  birth  of  modern  pedagogy  in  1824  when 
Herbart  wrote  his  "  Psychology  as  a  Science."  During 
recent  years  it  has  passed  through  a  polemic  stage,  led 
by  the  attack  of  Professor  Munsterberg  upon  the 
services  of  experimental  psychology  to  the  teacher. 
That  war  of  words  succeeded  in  sifting  rather  thoroughly 
the  values  of  psychology  for  education,  and  establishing 
some  firm  results.  To-day  the  question  has  passed 
into  the  practical  stage;  teachers  are  using  their  psy- 
chology and  psychologists  are  making  contributions  to 
pedagogy. 

Looking  backward  to  our  last  chapter  the  discussion 
in  hand  aims  to  suggest  why  the  teacher  should  know 
the  general  pupil,  as  a  part  of  his  essential  equipment. 
And  looking  forward,  the  following  pages  of  this  book 
are  our  real  answer  to  the  question  in  hand.  It  re- 
mains only  to  say  here  some  of  those  general  things 
which  there  will  be  illustrated  in  more  detail. 

The  uses  of  psychology  for  the  teacher  may  be  classi-  The  uses  of 
fied  under  three  general  heads,  viz.  it  helps  to  give  him  forytch  °  01 
knowledge  of  his  field,  it  helps  to  give  him  the  power  Teacher, 
that  comes  from  such  knowledge,  and  there  are  certain 

ss 


56    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

personal  gains.  Let  us  consider  each  of  these  in  suc- 
cession. 

T}16  ^ow1-        Psychology  helps  to  give  the  teacher  a  knowledge  of 
Field.  his  field.     His  field  is  consciousness,  a  developing  self- 

consciousness,  and  his  work  is  the  natural  forwarding 
of  the  growth  of  consciousness.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  psychologist  to  describe  and  to  explain  this  same 
consciousness,  to  provide  scientific  knowledge  concern- 
ing that  mental  life  whose  stimulation  is  the  province 
of  the  teacher.  From  the  psychologist  then  the  teacher 
can  get  information  concerning  the  nature  of  his  field. 
It  is  always  to  be  said  that  this  information  is  scientific, 
that  is,  descriptive  and  explanatory,  analytic  and  causal ; 
it  is  not  in  its  first  form  applicable  to  any  art,  least  of 
all  the  personal  art  of  teaching.  In  the  first  instance 
it  is  just  scientific  knowledge  that  the  psychologist  pro- 
vides the  teacher,  without  telling  him  what  to  do  with 
it,  or  how  to  do  it.  The  omega  of  psychology  is  but 
the  alpha  of  pedagogy.  The  descriptive  and  explana- 
tory conclusions  of  psychology  must,  for  the  sake  of 
service,  be  transformed  into  the  applicable  and  practical 
principles  of  education.  I  will  not  illustrate  this 
transformation  of  psychological  science  into  pedagogical 
art  at  this  point,  as  almost  every  later  chapter  in  the 
book  attempts  to  do  this  very  thing.  The  teacher  who 
is  asked  to  cultivate  the  intellect,  the  feelings,  the  moral 
and  religious  nature  of  pupils  can  probably  do  it  better 
if  he  has  some  definite  knowledge  at  the  start  of  what 
these  things  may  be;  certainly  he  will  be  somewhat 
more  at  ease  about  his  work. 

There  are  five  things  in  particular  that  will  show  how 


Psychology  and  Educational  Science         57 

psychology  helps  to  give  the  teacher  a  knowledge  of  T 
his  field.  The  first  is  concerned  with  the  foundations  curriculum, 
of  the  curriculum.  A  teacher  who  reads  such  a  volume 
as  that  of  Dr.  Harris,  "Psychologic  Foundations  of 
Education,"  gets  a  certain  view  of  the  origin,  nature, 
meaning,  and  unity  of  the  curriculum.  Such  knowl- 
edge brings  him  into  better  adjustment  with  his  field 
of  work,  especially  if  he  is  stimulated  to  read  further. 

The  second  is  the  stages  of  mental  development.  The  stages 

of  Mental 

The  teacher  who  reads  the  works  of  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Deveiop- 
Hall,  Preyer,  Taylor,  Chamberlain,  Warner,  King,  and  ment 
Kirkpatrick,  gets  a  certain  view  of  consciousness  in  its 
growth,  the  so-called  genetic  view,  that  at  once  brings 
him  into  closer  touch  with  the  life  in  his  schoolroom, 
and  permits  him  to  see  that  the  whole  of  the  human 
race  is  peering  at  him  through  the  eyes  of  a  child. 
The  third  is  the  description  of  individual  differences,   individual 

_,,  .  .„    .  .  .  Differences. 

This  matter  will  in  time  receive  more  attention  from 
the  psychologists.  Already  we  are  being  told  in  an 
enlightening  way  of  the  sensory  and  the  motor  types, 
of  the  language  and  the  mathematical  minds,  of  the 
types  of  imagination,  of  the  differences  between  boys 
and  girls,  of  the  variations  in  memory,  etc.  Such  work 
will  help  us  in  knowing  the  individual  as  well  as  general 
pupil.  In  illustration  I  will  quote  one  passage:  "To 
a  teacher  interested  in  psychology,  not  as  a  bookish 
doctrine,  but  as  a  thing  of  flesh  and  blood,  a  child  who 
cannot  learn  to  spell,  should  be  regarded  as  a  rare  and 
inviting  individual  who  may  not  be  dismissed  until  he 
has  yielded  up  the  secret  of  his  defective  memory."  l 

1  Stratton,  "Experimental  Psychology  and  Culture,"  p.  184. 


Special 
Topics. 


Laws  of 
Mind. 


58     The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 

The  fourth  is  information  concerning  certain  special 
topics  of  interest  and  value  to  the  teacher,  such  as 
fatigue,  the  inheritance  of  mental  traits,  the  distribu- 
tion of  mental  power  in  different  subjects  of  the  cur- 
riculum, the  health  of  children  in  the  different  periods 
of  their  development,  the  fears  of  children,  play  and 
games,  etc.  The  modern  treatment  of  all  these  special 
topics  goes  back  to  the  racial  and  biological  background 
of  child-life,  and,  as  the  scientists  say,  interprets  ontog- 
eny for  us  through  phylogeny. 

Then,  fifth,  there  are  the  general  laws  of  mind,  in 
accord  with  which  all  successful  work  of  the  teacher 
must  be,  whether  he  knows  them  technically  or  not. 
Only  if  he  knows  them  he  is  less  likely  to  run  counter 
to  them.  There  is  the  general  relation  of  mind  to  body, 
the  necessity  of  percepts  for  concepts,  the  laws  of  memory 
and  association,  the  way  a  habit  is  formed,  the  kinds  of 
imagination,  how  to  reach  a  feeling,  the  indirect  way 
of  forming  the  will,  and  the  countless  other  things  that 
are  the  alphabet  of  the  mind's  mode  of  functioning. 
This  is  the  field  of  general  psychology  proper  and 
from  it  the  teacher  has  received  most  directive  assist- 
ance. 


The  Power 
of  Knowl- 
edge. 


Coupled  with  the  knowledge  of  his  field  is  the  second 
general  use  of  psychology  for  the  teacher,  viz.  it  helps 
to  give  him  the  power  that  comes  from  such  knowledge. 
Since  Bacon  we  are  ready  to  assent  to  the  proposition 
that  knowledge  is  power.  He  meant  by  the  maxim 
that  knowledge  of  nature  is  a  means  of  power  over  her. 
All  modern  science  and  the  consequent  comforts  of 


Psychology  and  Educational  Science       59 

living  are  a  tribute  to  the  truth  of  this  utterance.  It  is 
no  less  true  that  a  knowledge  of  mind  is  a  means  of 
power  over  it.  In  each  case  the  power  is  dependent 
on  the  use  of  the  knowledge.  For  the  profession  of 
teaching  to  pass  into  its  comforts  and  even  luxuries, 
not  of  material  but  spiritual  values,  it  is  only  necessary 
that  the  teachers,  or  some  one  for  them,  point  the  way 
from  theory  to  practice:  from  the  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  consciousness  to  the  right  way  of  dealing 
with  it.  Psychology  describes  how  the  mind  learns, 
it  is  the  business  of  teaching  to  cause  the  mind  to  learn ; 
psychology  describes  how  the  mind  appreciates  beauty, 
it  is  the  business  of  teaching  to  cause  the  mind  to  ap- 
preciate beauty;  psychology  describes  how  characters 
are  formed,  it  is  the  business  of  teaching  to  assist  hi 
the  formation  of  character;  psychology  describes  the 
nature  of  the  religious  sense,  it  is  the  business  of  teach- 
ing to  stimulate  the  religious  sense.  Thus  psychology 
is  one  of  the  sciences  of  which  teaching  is  the  art. 

He  who  has  most  tempered  American  educational 
expectations  from  psychology,  especially  of  the  quan- 
titative, laboratory  kind,  Professor  Miinsterberg,  has 
also  written:  "Teachers  ought  always  to  have  had  con- 
fidence in  a  sound  qualitative  psychology.  A  serious 
understanding  of  the  mental  functions  certainly  will 
help  them  in  their  educational  work." l  And  the 
head  of  another  large  psychological  laboratory,  a  man 
promoting  exact  research  in  the  field  of  mind,  Professor 
Cattell,  reviewing  the  article  of  Professor  Miinsterberg, 

1  Atlantic  Monthly,  February,  1898,  "A  Danger  from  Experi- 
mental Psychology." 


60    The  Psychological   Principles  of  Education 

writes  in  a  way  commanding  general  assent,  "I  think 
that  psychology  has  much  the  same  relation  to  the  pro- 
fession of  the  teacher  as  physiology  has  to  medicine."  l 

There  are  two  things  in  particular  that  will  show 
how  psychology  helps  to  give  the  teacher  this  power 
in  his  work.  The  first  is,  the  laws  of  mind  furnish  the 
principles  of  educating.  If  physiological  psychology, 
for  example,  discloses  as  a  law  that  instincts  ripen  and 
decay,  pedagogy  demands  that  desirable  instincts  as 
they  come  on  be  fixed  into  habits  before  they  pass 
away.  If  general  psychology,  to  take  another  instance, 
discloses  as  a  law  that  the  pursuit  of  an  interest  is  a 
factor  in  individual  development,  pedagogy  at  once 
demands  that  school  work  at  some  point  discover  to 
a  pupil  his  real  interests.  Probably  no  American  psy- 
chologist is  more  cautious  in  his  methods  or  temperate 
in  his  conclusions,  or  critical  of  psychological  extrava- 
gances than  Professor  Jastrow,  who,  reviewing  Hall's 
"Adolescence,"  writes,  "Thus  psychology  —  properly 
interpreted  as  the  study  of  the  evolution  of  mental 
function  —  at  once  appraises  the  value  of  mental 
traits,  and  in  recovering  the  trade-routes  of  the  past, 
points  to  the  most  profitable  highways  of  the  future. 
Psychology  of  this  type  and  temper  remains  the  supreme 
guide  of  education."  2 

The  second  thing  is  that,  while  not  taking  their  place 
ever,  nor  the  place  of  practical  experience,  psychology 
gives  native  tact  and  skill  their  best  opportunity.  Sympa- 

1  Psychological  Review,  1898,  p.  413. 

2  Jastrow,    "The    Natural    History    of    Adolescence,"    Popular 
Science  Monthly,  March,  1905. 


Psychology  and  Educational  Science       61 

thy  and  insight,  these  are  indeed  inborn  and  indispensable 
for  the  teacher.  However  great  they  may  naturally  be, 
knowledge  will  make  them  greater.  They  are  original, 
they  are  primary,  knowledge  of  all  psychology  cannot 
take  their  place,  but  they  are  most  efficient  when 
knowledge  is  their  guide.  To  understand  pupils  opens 
up  channels  for  sympathy.  "  A  Pheidias  does  not  despise 
learning  the  principles  necessary  to  the  mastery  of  his 
art,  nor  a  Beethoven  disregard  the  knowledge  requisite 
for  the  complete  technical  skill  through  which  he  gives 
expression  to  his  genius.  In  a  sense  it  is  true  that  the 
great  artist  is  "born,  not  made;  but  it  is  equally  true 
that  a  scientific  insight  into  the  technics  of  his  art  helps 
to  make  him.  And  so  it  is  with  the  artist  teacher."  * 

It  was  said  that  the  third  great  use  of  psychology  to  P«"°nai 

i  i  •  i         •  T  Gains. 

the  teacher  was  certain  personal  gains.  In  the  first 
place  it  is  to  be  remarked  that,  as  hi  the  case  of  other 
sciences,  here  is  a  body  of  knowledge  that  is  worth 
while  for  its  own  sake.  Since  the  importance  attached  Truth  for 
by  Plato  and  Aristotle  to  knowledge  as  such,  to  a  vision 
of  the  truth  anywhere,  only  a  practical  age  has  demanded 
applications.  Ours  is  eminently  a  practical  age,  due 
in  scientific  realms  to  the  biological  recognition  that 
consciousness  is  primarily  teleological.  In  such  a 
time  it  is  preeminently  good  for  us  to  love  some  knowl- 
edge for  its  own  sake  and  not  because  we  are  planning 
to  use  it  to-morrow.  This  attitude  makes  the  investi- 
gator's life  worth  while.  He  does  not  know  and  does 
not  care  whether  what  true  thing  he  finds  will  prove 

1  McLellan  and  Dewey,  "Psychology  of  Number,"  p.  6. 


62    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


useful.  He  is  seeking  the  truth  because  he  loves  it, 
and  in  the  light  of  the  truth  he  finds  the  generations 
walk.  So  is  the  teacher  who,  according  to  his  oppor- 
tunity, is  becoming  a  master  of  mind  for  its  own  sake. 

In  the  second  place,  and  coming  to  practice  again, 
The  Analytic  psychology  develops  an  analytic  power  in  dealing  with 
mental  material  of  immense  service  in  the  work  of 
clear  teaching.  No  teacher  can  attain  a  first-rate  suc- 
cess who  is  without  the  ability  to  introduce  sharp 
distinctions  into  a  complex  whole.  His  subject  must 
lie  hi  his  own  mind  in  its  variety  as  well  as  in  its  unity. 
Step  by  step,  he  must  initiate  his  pupils  into  its  mys- 
teries, ending  up  with  an  illuminating  total  vision. 
Similarly  psychology  leads  the  teacher  to  view  mind  as 
a  unity  with  a  variety  of  functions.  He  gets  the  notion 
that  is  the  way  reality  is ;  he  is  led  to  apply  the  notion  to 
his  own  subject.  The  making  of  close  psychological 
distinctions  clear  to  himself  is  an  aid  to  him  in  making 
similar  distinctions  in  his  subject  clear  to  his  class. 

In  the  third  place,  psychology  aids  the  teacher  in 
rationalizing  his  experience.  The  light  that  it  casts 
permits  distinctions  to  be  drawn  in  the  daily  occurrences 
between  the  haphazard  and  the  real,  the  non-essential 
and  the  essential.  Values  begin  to  get  adjusted  in  the 
teacher's  view  of  his  class,  and  the  sporadic  is  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  racial.  Through  psychology  the 
teacher's  work  will  continually  have  a  diagnosis  of 
pupils  in  the  background,  and  the  teacher  himself  will 
increasingly  become  an  expert  physician  of  mind. 

And  the  fourth  personal  gain  is  deliverance  from  the 
latest  educational  devices.  Through  psychology  every 


The  Ration- 
alizing of 
Experience. 


An  Educa- 
tional Critic. 


Psychology  and  Educational  Science       63 

teacher  is  to  some  extent  his  own  educational  critic. 
He  does  not  have  to  wait  for  editorial  expression  from 
his  favorite  educational  periodical ;  he  sees  for  himself 
the  limitations  and  the  possible  services  of  a  new 
pedagogical  method.  He  no  longer  discards  the  old 
because  it  is  old,  nor  adopts  the  new  because  it  is  new ; 
he  keeps  and  accepts  both  old  and  new  according  as 
they  are  grounded  in  the  laws  of  the  constitution  of 
mind.  Of  course  all  these  personal  gains  are  relative 
to  the  amount  of  time  the  teacher  can  give  to  his  psy- 
chology, his  ability  in  it,  and  his  capacity  to  see  its 
bearings  on  practical  problems. 

This  discussion  must  be  concluded  with  certain  clear 
cautions  concerning  the  use  of  psychology  in  teaching,  Cautions, 
already  hinted  at  indeed  in  the  foregoing.  The  first  is 
that  it  is  the  psychology  of  the  growing,  not  the  grown,  7,he  !Prowing 
mind  that  teachers  most  need  to  know.  The  propor- 
tions of  adult  and  youthful  bodies  do  not  vary  more  than 
those  of  adult  and  youthful  minds.  A  besetting  mis- 
take of  the  teacher  is  to  make  pupils  take  his  own  adult 
point  of  view  instead  of  making  himself  take  their 
youthful  points  of  view.  Pause,  gentle  and  faithful 
teacher,  as  you  read,  and  think  three  minutes  of  how 
you  can  take  your  pupils'  points  of  view. 

The   second   caution   is   that   teachers   most   need  Pratf'0*1 

.      ,  ,  .      ,  .  ,     ,  Psychology. 

practical,  not  theoretical,  nor  expenmental,  psychology. 
They  need  not  so  much  the  theoretic  account  of  the 
nature  of  mind  as  the  practical  way  of  dealing  with  it 
which  this  theory  suggests.  To  the  ambitious  teacher 
with  high  standards  to  attain,  the  profession  is  exacting, 


64    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


and  the  time  allottable  to  psychology,  though  brief, 
must  count.  Drop  the  psychology  any  page  of  which 
you  light  upon  does  not  tell  you  something  worth 
while. 

Exact  My  third  caution  is  that  a  little  exact  statistical  in- 

information.  vestjga^on  among  your  own  pupils  is  of  more  value  to 
you  than  much  reliance  upon  respected  educational 
opinion.  Is  it  true  that  some  of  your  pupils  have 
mathematical,  and  others  linguistic,  minds?  If  so, 
is  it  true  that  the  boys  predominate  among  the  former 
and  the  girls  among  the  latter?  Is  it  true  that  your 
pupils  are  working  for  marks,  prizes,  and  promotion 
rather  than  for  the  sake  of  the  subject  and  interest  in 
study?  Such  investigations  make  your  psychology 
concrete ;  they  give  the  sense  of  reality  to  what  you  read 
in  the  books,  and  one  such  usually  leads  to  another. 
Remember  that  the  opinions  you  read  are  themselves 
based  on  just  such  investigations,  or  some  lesser  founda- 
tion. 

After  saying  this,  my  last  caution  is  particularly 
needed.  It  is,  the  teacher  must  not  take  the  psychologi- 
cal, which  is  the  analytic,  the  simply  observing  and 
explaining,  attitude  toward  his  pupils,  —  they  are  not 
specimens.  The  sweet  and  beautiful  soul  of  Helen 
Keller  has  been  made  to  feel  that  the  psychologists  too 
often  regard  her  as  only  a  wonderful  subject  for  in- 
vestigation and  explanation.  In  contrast  the  teacher's 
attitude  is  always  real,  vital,  sympathetic,  personal. 
Whatever  psychologizing  the  teacher  does  in  his  class 
room  must  be  in  the  background  of  his  consciousness; 
not  once  must  a  single  pupil  feel  himself  impaled  and 


The  Teach- 
ing Attitude. 


Psychology  and  Educational  Science       65 

subject  to  the  intellectual  analysis  of  his  teacher. 
The  teaching  relation  permits  the  use,  but  never  the 
discovery,  of  psychological  truth. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  hope  that  through  the  knowledge 
and  use  of  psychology,  and  the  kindred  human  sciences, 
the  regeneration  of  education  is  to  come. 

PROBLEMS 

1.  The  Sciences  Important  for  Educational  Practice. 

2.  The  Investigation  of  Social  School  Problems. 

3.  The  Use  of  Statistical  Methods. 

4.  The  Acquisition  of  a  Working  Knowledge  of  Psychology. 

REFERENCES  ON  PSYCHOLOGY  AND  TEACHING 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  ch.  ITL 

Boone,  Science  of  Education,  ch.  XEX. 

Dewey,  Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  13,  pp.  356-369;  Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  16,  pp. 

1-14;  Psych.  Rev.,  Vol.  7,  pp.  105-124. 
Herbart,  Science  of  Education,  Introduction. 
James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  ch.  I. 
Laurie,  Institutes  of  Education,  Part  II. 
McLellan  and  Dewey,  Psychology  of  Number,  ch.  I. 
Miinsterberg,  Psychology  and  Life,  pp.  100-144. 
Rosenkranz,  Philosophy  of  Education,  pp.  76-105. 
Spencer,  Education,  I. 
Sully,  The  Teacher's  Handbook  of  Psychology,  ch.  I;  Ed.  Rev., 

Vol.  IV,  pp.  313  ff. 
Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  pp.  325-327;    Educational 

Psychology,  passim. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE  THEORY  OF   FORMAL  DISCIPLINE 

No  extended  reference  to  the  science  of  education, 
and  no  discussion  of  the  applications  of  psychology  to 
teaching,  must  fail  to-day  to  take  account  of  the  pressing 
question  of  formal  discipline.  To  consider  it  here  will 
give  us  the  right  point  of  view  from  which  to  approach 
the  later  inquiries  in  this  volume,  and  any  conclusions 
there  reached  are  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  this 
discussion.  The  immediately  following  pages  cover  a 
pedagogical  battle-ground;  the  war  has  been  waging 
for  nearly  a  generation  now,  and  the  victory  is  not  yet 
won.  What  is  the  question  itself? 

The  Theory  If  we  turn  for  an  authoritative  answer  to  Professor 
De  Garmo's  article  on  "Formal  Culture"  in  Baldwin's 
"Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology,"  we  find 
the  following  definition,  "The  doctrine  of  the  applica- 
bility of  mental  power,  however  gained,  to  any  depart- 
ment of  human  activity."  Perhaps  the  idea  would  be 
expressed  should  we  say,  the  theory  of  formal  discipline 
asserts  that  mental  power  developed  in  one  subject  is 
usable  in  any  other.  Once  sharpen  the  intellectual  axe 
and  it  is  good  for  cutting  any  kind  of  wood;  once 
develop  mental  muscle  and  it  is  good  for  lifting  any 
burden ;  once  go  through  the  gymnasium  for  the  mind 
and  you  are  ready  for  the  tasks  of  life. 

66 


The  Theory  of  Formal  Discipline         67 
The  historic  and  contemporary  repute  of  this  theory  Its  Past  and 

J     Present 

of  education  needs  little  comment.  Perhaps  we  were  standing, 
all  reared  in  its  atmosphere.  It  has  had  a  long,  dig- 
nified, and  conspicuous  place  in  educational  theory, 
from  the  perfection  in  formalism  of  the  mediaeval  great 
systems  of  knowledge  to  the  latest  modern  opposition 
to  the  introduction  into  the  curriculum  of  "fads,  frills, 
and  fancies."  It  has  been  one  of  the  ideals  of  educa- 
tion. Those  old  ones  whom  we  call  the  schoolmen  had 
it,  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics  of  the  English 
schools  and  universities  presuppose  it,  the  German 
gymnasien  intend  it,  the  three  R's  and  the  four  walls 
of  the  district  and  elementary  schools  suggest  it,  and 
all  that  advocacy  of  education  as  a  training  for  the  mind 
implies  it.  The  theory  has  the  widest  prevalence  in 
teaching  circles  to-day ;  practically  all  the  teachers  com- 
mit themselves  to  it  one  way  or  another,  and  speakers 
on  educational  programmes  may  usually  be  counted  upon 
to  defend  such  subjects  as  grammar,  spelling,  arith- 
metic, the  ancient  languages,  etc.,  because  of  their 
"  superior  disciplinary  power. "  We  may  even  go  further 
and  say,  counting  heads  alone,  most  educational 
theorists  imply,  if  they  do  not  directly  amrm,  the  truth 
of  the  doctrine.  Some  of  the  leaders,  however,  who 
have  given  especial  attention  to  the  matter,  are  taking 
new  positions. 

There  are  certain  weighty  and  not  wholly  answerable  Objections 

11  .  _.,        to  the  Theory 

arguments  against  the  theory  in  its  historic  form.     The  jn  its  Historic 
first  is,  it  rests  upon  an  antiquated  psychology,  the  so-  Form- 
called  "faculty  psychology."    According  to  this  psy- 


68     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


An  Anti- 
quated 
Psychology. 


Mistaken 
Analogies. 


chology  the  mind  was  composed  of  so  many  faculties 
or  powers,  such  as  perception,  memory,  judgment, 
reasoning,  etc.,  and  in  accord  with  this  notion  of  mind 
the  theory  of  formal  discipline  held  that  if  a  faculty 
were  once  trained,  it  was  good  for  any  service.  Thus 
the  language  drill  was  said  to  be  good  in  training  the 
memory,  mathematics  for  the  reasoning  power,  etc.  At 
this  point  it  is  serviceable  to  our  later  discussion  to  note 
that  the  old  faculty  psychology  and  the  historic  theory 
of  formal  discipline  founded  upon  it  did  not  admit  of 
the  possibility  of  training  one  faculty,  for  example 
perception,  by  training  another,  for  example  reason; 
that  is,  it  was  not  the  mind  that  was  really  trained,  but 
only  its  faculties.  To-day  in  scientific  circles  the 
functional  psychology,  affirming  the  unity  of  mind  as  it 
adjusts  itself  variously  to  different  situations,  has  sup- 
planted the  former  faculty  psychology.  Functional 
psychology,  affirming  that  mind  is  developed  through 
adjustment  to  given  situations,  knows  nothing  of  a 
mental  power  thoroughly  detachable  from  the  place  of 
its  origin  and  perfectly  applicable  to  a  different  set  of 
conditions. 

Second,  the  historic  theory  rests  upon  mistaken 
analogies.  Axes  and  muscles  make  mechanical  ad- 
justments to  their  objects;  the  mind  makes  vital 
adjustment.  In  a  mechanical  adjustment  there  is 
always  a  dualism,  the  axe  and  the  wood  it  cuts  are  two 
things.  In  a  vital  adjustment  there  is  always  a  unity, 
the  mind  is  fed  by  the  problem  it  solves  and  turns  with 
relish  to  similar  problems.  To  each  distinct  situation 
the  reactions  of  mind  and  brain  are  unique. 


The  Theory  of  Formal  Discipline         69 

Third,  historically  the  doctrine  was  rather  taken  for  Assumed 
granted  than  scrutinized,  criticised,  and  accepted. 
When  modern  knowledge  and  life  grew  away  from  the 
mediaeval  curriculum,  it  became  necessary  either  to 
incorporate  the  new  knowledge  into  the  curriculum  or 
to  justify  the  continuance  of  an  unmodified  curriculum; 
the  theory  of  formal  discipline  served  the  purpose  of 
this  justification;  it  has  never  been  supported  by  exact 
evidence. 

Fourth,  the  wide  prevalence  of  the  theory  to-day  in  "Social 
its  historic  form  is  due  mainly  to  "social  heredity,"  that 
is,  to  imitation  and  suggestion.  The  busy  teachers  who 
hold  and  defend  it  have  not  first  doubted,  then  ex- 
amined, then  accepted  it;  to  them  it  is  like  Antonio's 
feeling  of  sadness,  —  how  they  found  it,  caught  it, 
came  by  it,  what  stuff  'tis  made  of,  whereof  'tis  born, 
they  are  to  learn. 

Fifth,  it  contradicts  common  experience.  A  man's  Against 
judgment  is  notoriously  unequal  in  familiar  and  un-  Experience, 
familiar  matters.  He  may  be  as  quick  as  a  race-horse 
in  matters,  say,  of  Biblical  criticism,  and  as  slow  as  an 
ox  in  the  philosophical  problem  of  immortality.  It  is 
a  saying  with  some  jurists  that  a  man  trained  in  exact 
scientific  and  mathematical  methods  cannot  make  a 
great  lawyer  where  the  issue  is  not  one  of  certainty 
but  of  probability.  Men  may  be  grouped  accord- 
ing to  their  efficiency  in  certain  subjects,  and  effi- 
ciency in  one  field  does  not  mean  efficiency  in  another. 
There  is  a  logical  fallacy,  argumentum  ad  verecun- 
diam,  which  consists  in  appealing  to  authority  outside 
of  the  field  in  question.  The  same  boys  may  be 


jo    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

% 

better  in  their  mathematics  than  in  language,  and 
the  same  girls  may  be  better  in  language  than  in 
mathematics.  Here  the  mental  power  in  one  sub- 
ject is  not  the  same  in  another,  the  "all  'round  mind" 
is  a  myth. 
Against  Sixth,  if  more  were  necessary,  the  theory  in  its  his- 

Experimen-  * 

tai  Evidence,  tone  form  contradicts  experimental  evidence.  Try 
your  mathematical  reasoners  on  a  series  of  life- 
problems,  as  how  best  to  spend  one's  money,  one's 
time,  choose  one's  associates,  etc.,  and  be  surprised  that 
some  of  the  first  are  last  and  some  of  the  last  are  first. 
Try  to  improve  your  own  power  for  remembering  any- 
thing now  difficult  to  you,  such  as  names,  dates,  poetry, 
by  committing  nonsense  syllables.  Or,  shorter,  imagine 
yourself  now  testing  your  judgment,  admittedly  good 
in  matters  of  teaching,  on  the  relative  merits  of  two 
horses  or  the  relative  values  of  two  farms.  If  still 
unconvinced,  read  some  of  the  experimental  results 
referred  to  in  the  list  at  the  close  of  this  chapter,  and 
you  may  end  by  almost,  if  not  quite,  agreeing  with  the 
results  of  the  bold  and  acute  Thorndike  as  he  writes, 
"...  there  is  always  a  point  .  .  .  beyond  which  the  in- 
fluence of  the  training  has  not  extended."  1  It  would 
be  correct  to  say  that  all  the  theorists  who  have  in- 
vestigated the  question  reject  the  doctrine  hi  its  historic 
form. 

The  Pro-  is  there  no  truth  at  all  then  in  the  theory,  but  all  mis- 

posed  Modi-  11,.  T    i  •  mi  i  •  j 

fication.  take  and  delusion?  I  think  not.  These  objections  do 
demand  that  the  historic  form  of  the  theory  be  modi- 

1  Thorndike,  "Educational  Psychology,"  p.  91. 


The  Theory  of  Formal  Discipline         71 

fied;  they  do  not  demand  that  it  be  given  up  in  toto. 
The  modification  necessary  would  appear,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  in  the  following  statement  of  principle,  viz. 
mental  power  developed  in  one  subject  is  applicable 
to  any  other  in  direct  proportion  to  their  similarity. 
Though  stated  in  exact  mathematical  form,  it  is  not 
possible,  because  of  the  complexity  of  the  subject,  to 
demonstrate  its  exact  truth;  but  that  it  has  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  probability  can  be  shown. 

The  principle  means,  the  greater  the  similarity  between 
two  subjects,  the  greater  the  applicability  of  mental 
power  developed  in  one  to  the  other ;  the  less  the  simi- 
larity, the  less  the  applicability.  Now  it  requires  no 
great  amount  of  common  insight  or  metaphysical  acumen 
to  see  that,  given  the  same  person,  with  the  same  eyes, 
ears,  hands,  and  brain  at  work,  any  two  subjects, 
situations,  or  activities  are  in  some  respects  similar, 
and  they  are  also  in  some  respects  dissimilar.  This 
means  there  is  always  some  mental  power  transferable 
from  subject  to  subject,  though  it  may  be  infinitesimal 
if  the  subjects  are  widely  dissimilar;  also  that  there  is 
never  such  transfer  without  loss,  though  the  loss  may 
be  negligible  if  the  subjects  are  very  similar.  This  is 
the  meaning  of  the  proposed  modification;  it  holds 
there  is  an  element  of  truth  in  the  old  theory  of  formal 
discipline,  but  not  so  much  truth  as  its  adherents  have 
supposed.  Perhaps  the  simple  statement  of  the  pro- 
posed modification  carries  conviction  in  itself  without 
argument;  if  so,  the  reader  may  pass  at  once  to  the 
next  chapter.  The  rest  of  us  must  tarry  with  the 
defence  of  the  modifying  principle. 


72    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


To  show 
Transfer  of 
Function. 


Similarity  of 
Subjects. 


Common 
Experiences. 


We  have  to  show  that  the  historic  theory  of  formal 
discipline  is  right  in  saying  that  what  we  may  call  in 
modern  terms  a  transfer  of  function  is  possible,  but  wrong 
in  saying  the  transfer  is  possible  without  loss.  The 
presuppositions  of  our  defence  are  a  unitary  conscious- 
ness, its  functional  unity, with  its  object,  and  the  so- 
called  doctrine  of  localization  of  function  in  the  brain, 
whereby  specific  portions  of  it  are  given  over  to  specific 
sensory  and  motor  processes. 

To  show  first,  there  is  some  transfer  of  function,  that 
is,  there  is  some  transmission  of  power  developed  in 
one  situation  to  another  situation.  Beginning  from 
the  objective  side  of  the  process,  it  is  to  be  observed, 
first,  that  any  two  courses  of  study  or  activities  are  in 
some  respects  similar,  ranging  from  practical  identity 
to  almost  total  dissimilarity.  Two  courses  in  language, 
or  literature,  or  mathematics,  or  history,  have  many 
points  in  common,  while  two  courses  in  literature  and 
mathematics,  in  grammar  and  history,  in  spelling  and 
nature-study,  have  many  points  of  dissimilarity.  Be- 
cause of  this  similarity  in  the  objective  situations, 
always  present  in  some  degree,  we  should  expect  a 
corresponding  transfer  of  function. 

Second,  this  transfer  of  function  between  similar 
subjects  is  exactly  what  common  experience  verifies. 
The  boy  good  in  mathematics  is  usually  good  in  physics, 
and  later  in  astronomy.  The  boy  good  in  nature-study 
is  usually  good  in  botany,  biology,  physiology,  and  later 
in  psychology.  The  girl  good  in  English  is  usually 
good  in  French,  and,  as  the  studies  should  perhaps  be 
arranged,  later  in  Latin.  The  possibility  of  this  transfer 


The  Theory  of  Formal   Discipline         73 

of  function  between  similar  activities  is  the  basis  of  all 
professional  school  work,  where  moot  courts  make  the 
future  lawyer,  dissections  the  future  doctor,  homiletics 
the  future  minister,  class  practice  the  future  teacher, 
economics  the  future  business  man,  etc. 

Third,  viewing  the  process  from  the  subjective  side  identical 
of  mind  and  brain,  there  are  always  some  identical  Elements, 
elements  involved  in  any  two  mental  occupations  or 
brain  functions.  The  brain,  despite  localization  of 
functions,  acts  as  a  unity.  Its  unitary  action  makes 
possible  its  service  as  the  organ  of  a  unitary  conscious- 
ness; a  brain  divided  in  its  action  means  a  multiple 
personality.  Flechsig  states  the  principle  that  "cerebral 
energy,  like  water,  tends  to  find  its  level."  It  means 
that  when  an  activity  has  fatigued  its  own  portion  of 
the  brain,  its  continuance  withdraws  energy  from,  and 
so  fatigues,  other  portions.  However  dissimilar  the 
situations  or  activities,  the  association  centres  would 
be  active  in  each,  perhaps  also  the  sight,  hearing, 
speech,  and  motor  centres.  This  means  that  training 
in  one  situation  makes  performance  easier  in  another, 
because  of  the  identical  brain  elements  involved. 

Fourth,   it  may  be   that  nature  has  endowed   the  General 

'  Instincts 

nervous  system  with  general  instincts,  and  that  man 
may  endow  his  own  system  with  generalized  habits. 
If  so,  the  transfer  of  function  would  be  another  case  of 
the  same  type.  To  take  the  case  of  imitation  as  a 
general  instinct.  Children  early  begin  to  show  the 
instinct  of  imitation.  Perhaps  the  instinct  is  particu- 
larly set  going  by  stimuli  of  a  rhythmic  or  playful 
character.  But  the  point  is  that  the  tendency  to 


74    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

imitate  seems  independent  of  any  particular  stimulus  or 
class  of  stimuli,  but  is  ready  to  go  off  at  any  4mitable 
model  whatsoever.  Do  or  say  anything  that  you  choose, 
and  your  three-year-old  child  will  usually  imitate  you. 
Here  apparently  is  what  we  may  call  a  generalized 
instinct.  Similarly  it  is  impossible  to  say  In  advance 
what  particular  things  will  arouse  the  child's  instinct  of 
fear  or  pugnacity.  Apparently  they  exist  in  the  nervous 
system  as  what  we  may  call  generalized  racial  habits, 
and  Habits.  What  nature  has  done  for  the  race  as  generalized 
instincts,  man  can  in  a  way  do  for  himself  as  generalized 
habits.  There  seem  to  be  habits  of  doing  as  well  as 
habits  of  deeds.  Thus  one  may  be  in  the  habit  of 
disagreeing  with  the  expressed  opinion  of  another, 
whatever  that  happens  to  be.  Or  one  may  inadvertently 
fashion  a  wrong  plural  with  "  s, "  as  "foots."  Professor 
Royce  *  instances  "fickleness"  as  a  generalized  habit. 
All  of  our  higher  types  of  thinking  seem  to  indicate 
the  presence  of  a  basic  habit  of  mind,  and  the  prose 
style  of  an  author,  regardless  of  the  subject,  bears  the 
stamp  of  certain  generalized  forms.  Once  to  have  writ- 
ten a  book  seems  to  leave  the  mind  stocked  with  vacant 
forms  of  expression  ready  to  be  filled  with  words  and 
meanings  appropriate  to  the  next  discussion.  Once  to 
have  read  an  author  consecutively  stocks  the  mind 
with  his  forms  of  style,  which  almost  inevitably  betray 
their  presence  in  one's  own  next  writing.  These  all  seem 
to  show  generalized  habits.  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
uncertainty  yet  attaching  to  generalized  instincts  and 
habits;  they  need  a  careful  monographic  study.  But 

1  "  Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  69. 


The  Theory  of  Formal  Discipline         75 

if  the  nervous  system  does  indeed  admit  of  the  formation 
of  such  generalized  tendencies  of  discharge,  then  we  may 
legitimately  conclude  that  habits  of  voluntary  atten- 
tion, doing  one's  duty,  promptitude,  accuracy,  indus- 
try, and  the  like,  once  formed  in  any  connection,  are 
at  least  somewhat  serviceable  in  other  connections. 

Fifth,  the  experimental  evidence  is  clearly  in  favor  Expenmen- 
of  a  partial  transfer  of  function.  Skill  developed  in 
one  hand  is  partially  transferable  to  the  other  hand, 
and  even  to  the  feet.  The  increase  in  sensitiveness  of 
the  skin  to  two  compass  points  felt  as  two  developed 
at  one  place  by  practice  is  partially  transferable  to  other 
portions  of  the  body,  especially  to  corresponding  portions 
on  the  other  half.  The  strength  developed  by  exercise 
in  the  right  arm  of  the  blacksmith  goes  over  in  part  to 
the  left  also,  and  the  man  using  his  arms  in  rowing  is 
also  giving  strength  to  his  legs.  Some  of  these  results 
may  not  be  precisely  pertinent  to  the  issue.  For  de- 
tails I  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  literature  of  the 
subject,  and  be  content  here  to  quote  the  conclusion 
of  one  investigator.  "The  real  question  is  not,  'Does 
improvement  in  one  function  alter  others?'  but  'To 
what  extent  and  how  does  it?' 

"The  answer  which  I  shall  try  to  defend  is  that  a 
change  in  one  function  alters  any  other  only  in  so  far 
as  the  two  functions  have  as  factors  identical  elements. 
...  By  identical  elements  are  meant  mental  processes 
which  have  the  same  cell  action  in  the  brain  as  their 
physical  correlate."  l 

1  Thorndike,  "Educational  Psychology,"  pp.  80,  81.  Cf.  the 
literature  reviewed  by  Thorndike  in  this  connection. 


7 6    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 
To  show  The  second  part  of  our  thesis,  that  there  is  always 

Loss  in  the 

Transferor  loss  m  the  transfer  of  function  proportionate  to  the 
Function,  dissimilarity  of  the  two  given  situations,  will  need 
only  brief  defence.  All  the  arguments  above  against 
the  theory  of  formal  discipline  in  its  historic  form 
have  place  here.  Also,  any  two  subjects  or  activities 
are  dissimilar  in  some  respects.  This  means  there 
are  always  some  non-identical  brain  cells  involved 
in  any  two  functions;  a  new  situation  always  requires 
a  new  adjustment  which  is  not  so  easy  as  an  habitual 
one.  Thus  there  are  limits  to  Flechsig's  principle. 
Not  all  cerebral  energy  can  be  drafted  off  in  one  direc- 
tion, as  all  the  water  can  pour  through  a  leaky  bucket. 
However  fatigued  you  may  be  in  one  subject,  you  are 
not  quite  so  much  so  when  another  is  taken  up.  The 
boy  half  asleep  over  his  Caesar  may  suddenly  awake 
with  his  algebra.  You  can  never  use  hi  one  situation 
all  you  have  gained  in  another.  The  localization  of 
brain  paths  responsible  for  specific  habits  also  means 
that  transfers  are  costly.  Even  the  generalized  habit 
is  never  quite  so  applicable  in  another  subject  as  in  the 
one  in  which  it  was  formed. 

Watch  yourselves,  teachers;  nobody  has  the  habit 
of  promptness  developed  stronger  than  you,  developed 
in  you  by  attendance  upon  your  school  duties ;  but  how 
are  you  as  to  promptness  when  it  is  a  question  of  at- 
tendance upon  teachers'  meetings,  committee  meetings, 
appointments,  and  church  ?  I  once  heard  a  prominent 
teacher  of  mathematics  give  as  his  excuse  for  keeping 
the  company  waiting  for  his  paper  half  an  hour  that 
he  had  misread  the  time  on  the  programme ;  then  he 


The  Theory  of  Formal  Discipline         77 

presented  his  paper  in    defence   of    mathematics    as 
affording  superior  training  in  accuracy.     The  worst  of 
it  was  nobody  seemed  to  notice  the  incongruity. 
There  are  certain  practical  conclusions   from   this  Practical 

.         Conclusions. 

largely  theoretical  inquiry  which  we  must  not  miss. 
The  first  is,  there  is  an  element  of  truth  in  the  historic 
theory  of  formal  discipline,  but  it  is  not  the  whole 
truth. 

The  second  is,  formal  education  is  an  uneconomical 
way  of  fitting  for  life,  as  there  is  always  loss  in  the 
transfer. 

The  third  is,  the  economical  way  of  educating  is  to 
put  the  life  situations  and  the  life  occupations  into  the 
school.  This  would  mean  less  of  the  formal  studies 
like  grammar  and  arithmetic,  and  more  of  the  real 
studies  like  nature  work,  literature,  and  history.  As 
Professor  O'Shea  observes  in  his  illuminating  discussion 
of  formal  discipline,  "An  individual  should  be  required 
to  perform  during  his  learning  period  those  activities 
which  he  will  be  called  upon  to  perform  most  often  in 
maturity."  1 

The  fourth  is,  there  should  be  in  the  curriculum  a 
prescribed  culture  element  for  leisure  in  life,  and  an 
elective  practical  element  for  work  in  life.  As  members 
of  society  are  men  as  well  as  workmen,  the  curriculum 
should  be  cultural  as  well  as  utilitarian.  The  individu- 
al's power  is  developed  through  pursuit  of  his  interest ; 
such  a  curriculum  will  at  some  one  point,  or  perhaps 
two,  reveal  the  pupil  to  himself. 

And  the  fifth  is,  both  formal  and  real  studies  must 

1  "Education  as  Adjustment,"  p.  265. 


7 8    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

not  rely  solely  on  their  habit-forming  power,  but  should 
also  aim  to  give  ideas  and  principles  of  action.  When 
your  habit  of  promptness  will  not  take  you  to  a  commit- 
tee meeting  on  time,  the  principle  of  respect  for  the 
time  of  others  will.  Formal  logic,  to  take  a  typical 
instance,  makes  you  think  clearly  in  it ;  it  does  not  as 
such  make  your  thinking  clear  everywhere;  it  does 
give  you  the  idea  that  clear  thinking  is  worth  striving 
for  everywhere.  Or  again,  West  Point  makes  brave 
soldiers,  not  by  the  cowardly  habits  of  hazing,  surely, 
but  by  the  instillation  of  the  idea  of  bravery,  facing 
the  foe,  standing  by  your  guns,  die  fighting,  etc.  In 
the  end,  effort  is  the  secret  of  attainment ;  once  the  idea 
is  firmly  lodged  in  pupil  or  teacher,  "  I  will  not  go  down 
in  defeat,"  "I  will  not  lower  my  standards,"  "I  will  be 
just  to  myself  and  merciful  to  others,"  or  the  like,  and 
a  worthy  issue  is  assured. 

Summary.  Here  we  conclude  our  introductory  sketch  of  a 
science  of  education.  We  have  seen  the  possibility  of 
a  normative  science  of  education,  the  indispensable  part 
that  the  history  of  education  plays  in  the  formation  of 
such  a  science,  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  educational 
ideal,  the  qualifications  of  the  teacher  regarded  as  es- 
sential in  the  fulfilment  of  his  task,  the  many  services 
rendered  him  by  psychology,  and  the  modification  neces- 
sary in  the  historic  theory  of  formal  discipline.  The 
general  impression  left  by  the  discussion  perhaps  is  that 
the  science  of  education  exists  non  in  esse  sed  in  posse. 

The  Coming       We  must  now  turn  from  the  theory  of  the  science  of 

Discussion.  ,    ...  .  ,  , 

education  to  such  practical  illustrations  as  we  are  able 
to  give.  The  remainder  of  the  book  must  consider  what 


The  Theory  of  Formal  Discipline         79 

the  education  of  children  and  youth  ought  to  be.  Its 
parts  are  suggested  by  the  threefold  nature  of  the  mind, 
viz.  the  intellectual,  the  emotional,  and  the  moral,  and 
by  the  relationship  of  mind  as  a  unit  to  divinity,  the 
spiritual.  The  respective  ideals  of  these  parts  are  the 
knowledge  of  the  true,  the  appreciation  of  the  beautiful, 
the  willing  of  the  good,  and  the  experience  of  the 
Divine. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Faculty  Psychology. 

2.  The  Functional  Psychology. 

3.  Generalized  Instincts  and  Habits. 

4.  The  Localization  of  Function. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  THEORY  OF  FORMAL  DISCIPLINE 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  139-142,  366-373. 
Bain,  Practical  Essays,  IV. 

Baker,  "  Educational  Values,"  Proc.  N.  E.  A.,  1895. 
Hanus,  Educational  Aims  and  Educational  Values,  I. 
Hinsdale,  "  Disciplinary  Studies,"  Proc.  N.  E.  A.,  1894. 
Hinsdale,  "  The  Dogma  of  Formal  Discipline,"  Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  8. 
Lewis,  "  Formal  Discipline,"  School  Rev.,  1905. 
Monroe,  Text-book  in  the  History  of  Education,  ch.  DC. 
O'Shea,  Education  as  Adjustment,  ch.  IV,  §4;  chs.  XIII  and  XIV. 
Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  ch.  VIII. 
Tompkins,  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  pp.  265-267. 
Youmans,  Culture  demanded  by  Modern  Life,  ch.  I. 


PART    II 

INTELLECTUAL   EDUCATION, 
OR   EDUCATING  THE  MIND  TO   KNOW 


INTRODUCTION 

INTELLECTUAL   education   may   be   defined   as   the  The  General 

J  Nature  of 

development  of  the  mind  s  power  to  know  the  truth,  intellectual 
The  intellect  is  that  instrument  of  consciousness  whereby  E^0*11011- 
we  get  knowledge.  And  knowledge,  praised  by  prophet, 
poet,  and  sage  alike,  we  may  think  of  as  content  of 
consciousness  descriptive  of  fact.  The  great  goal  and 
object  of  knowledge  is  truth;  it  is  the  truth  that  we 
know,  and  truth  we  may  think  of  as  the  relation- 
ship of  harmony  between  the  subjective  thought  and 
the  objective  fact.  Where  the  truth  is  known  there  is 
no  conflict  between  what  is  thought  and  what  is  so. 
It  is  the  mind  that  knows  the  truth;  the  knowing  is 
a  function  of  mind;  the  truth  is  that  which  occupies 
the  knowing,  as  its  object.  This  distinction  between 
knowledge  and  truth  may  be  briefly  stated  in  the 
form,  knowledge  is  the  subject  of  truth,  truth  is  the 
object  of  knowledge. 

From   these   deep   and   vague   considerations  there  Its  Two  pti~ 

,  .  maryAims. 

emerge  the  two  primary  aims  of  intellectual  education ; 
viz.  to  develop  the  mind's  power  to  know,  and  in  some 
measure  to  acquaint  it  with  the  truth.  The  former 
aim  develops  a  capacity,  the  latter  aim  indicates  an 
acquisition.  Of  these  two  aims  the  former  is  doubtless 
more  important  to  realize  in  school ;  the  power  to  pursue 
the  truth  through  life  is  better  than  to  begin  life  with  a 

83 


84    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

certain  quantity  of  known  truth.  Too  frequently  the 
latter  aim  has  eclipsed  the  former ;  knowledge  was  com- 
municated, but  the  power  to  know  remained  dormant, 
its  Order.  Now  there  are  certain  fairly  marked  stages  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  mind's  power  to  know  —  a  beginning, 
a  long  middle,  and  an  end.  These  stages  are  not  sep- 
arable from  each  other  by  years  and  days ;  they  merge 
gradually  into  each  other,  and  in  the  growth  the  earlier 
stages  are  carried  forward  into  the  later,  even  as  man's 
body  bears  about  it  the  signs  of  its  great  past.  If  we 
should  name  the  successive  stages  in  the  intellectual 
'  development  of  the  race  or  the  individual,  they  would 
appear  in  some  such  order  as  this :  sensation,  perception, 
memory,  imagination,  conception,  judgment,  and  reason- 
ing. Following  perception  there  is  apperception,  which 
is  rather  a  process  of,  than  a  period  in,  intellectual  de- 
velopment. Sensation,  then,  is  the  alpha,  and  reasoning 
is  the  omega  of  knowing.  To  assist  the  mind  through 
each  one  of  these  natural  stages  of  the  development  of 
its  power  to  know  is  evidently  the  function  which  in- 
tellectual education  has  to  discharge.  Here,  then,  too, 
we  find  the  order  our  discussion  must  follow,  beginning 
with  sensation. 


CHAPTER   VII 

OPENING   THE   WINDOWS   OF  CONSCIOUSNESS 

UNDER  this  figure  we  mean  educating  the  senses. 
To  begin  with,  the  windows  of  the  child's  mind  at 
birth  are  almost  all  closed ;  its  senses  are  but  just  oper- 
ative, and  not  much  of  the  great  world  can  make  its 
appeal  to  consciousness  and  deliver  its  messages.  The 
educated  mind  needs  to  have  all  the  windows  open. 

Under  the  phrase,  "educating  the  senses,"  a  miscon-   Meaning  of 

Educating 

ception  frequently  lurks.  The  phrase  does  not  mean  the  Senses, 
training  the  sense-organs  to  efficiency.  This  is  not 
our  work,  but  nature's,  and  if  nature  has  not  done  it, 
not  the  teacher  but  the  oculist  or  the  otologist  must 
assist  her.  It  often  takes  nature  several  generations 
to  remove  color-blindness  or  deafness.  But  the  phrase 
means  educating  the  mind  to  the  best  use  of  the  sense- 
organs.  The  man  who,  in  popular  language,  has  his 
senses  trained  is  he  who  has  an  attentive  appreciation 
of  sense- reports,  understanding  their  significance.  He 
sees  and  hears  what  escapes  the  usual  eye  and  ear 
through  inattention  or  lack  of  discrimination.  It 
would  marvellously  surprise  any  of  us  to  have  the 
consciousness  of  the  naturalist  for  five  minutes  in  the 
midst  of  the  wood.  We  lack  his  interests,  his  under- 
standing of  all  the  signs,  and  his  discrimination  between 
this  and  that. 


86    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Why 
educate 
the  Senses? 


Habits  of 
Observation. 


Broader 
Intelligence. 


Natural 
Beginning 
of  Science. 


Why  educate  the  senses?  Many  answers  might  be 
given  to  this  question,  a  few  of  which  will  deepen  our 
sense  of  the  importance  of  beginning  intellectual  edu- 
cation at  the  bottom.  First,  then,  thereby  habits  of 
observation,  alertness,  wide-awakeness,  are  helped  to 
be  formed.  There  is  a  great  difference  between  the 
mind  eager  to  learn  from  every  new  environment  and 
one  that  shuts  itself  up  like  a  clam  in  every  new  situa- 
tion. We  are  primarily  meant  to  look  outward  and 
not  inward,  to  be  a  friend  and  not  a  stranger  to  our 
world.  As  a  great  physicist  once  remarked  to  me, 
"It  is  necessary  that  pupils,  at  some  time,  learn  to 
observe  something,  and  minutely." 

Second,  thereby  richer  knowledge  and  a  broader 
intelligence  are  made  possible,  a  richer  knowledge  for 
sensations  are  the  stuff  from  which  knowledge  of  the 
external  world  grows,  a  broader  intelligence  for  it 
looks  out  upon  every  expanse  of  nature  that  is  allowed. 
Make  the  foundations  in  sensation  broad  and  deep  if 
the  superstructure  of  knowledge  is  to  be  reliable  and 
majestic. 

Third,  thereby  the  beginning  of  any  objective  science 
is  made  natural,  easy,  and  interesting.  And  the  child 
lives  in  the  realm  of  the  objective.  An  introspective 
child  is  morbid,  a  child  desiring  to  be  taken  out  of 
itself  is  an  anomaly.  The  knowledge  of  the  external 
world  precedes  that  of  the  internal,  things  engaging 
us  before  the  self.  The  child  wants  his  natural  history ; 
he  needs  and  wants  the  acquaintanceship  with  things, 
and  he  can  get  these  only  through  the  senses. 

Fourth,  thereby  a  foundation  is  laid  for  a  future 


Opening  the  Windows  of  Consciousness     87 

development  of  an  eesthetic  taste  and  the  appreciation  Foundation 
of  the  beautiful.  Unlike  truth,  beauty  makes  a  sensible 
appeal :  she  clothes  herself  with  garments  of  the  physical 
world,  she  is  visible  or  audible.  No  lover  of  beauty 
has  the  windows  of  his  consciousness  closed  and  the 
shades  drawn.  The  appreciation  of  the  beautiful 
ought  to  be  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  every  educated 
consciousness.  Coming  from  the  general  to  the  par- 
ticular, it  almost  goes  without  saying  that  educating 
the  senses  is  indispensable  for  that  pupil  who  may  later 
become  an  architect,  sculptor,  painter,  poet,  or  musi- 
cian. These  all  revel  in  lines,  curves,  colors,  and  sounds. 

And  fifth,  thereby  the  pupil  is  helped  into  the  pos-  Rounded 

J  Develop- 

session  of  all  his  powers.  To  get  a  sensation  and  ment. 
comprehend  it  is  one  of  his  powers;  not  to  get  the 
sensations  we  might  is  to  be  isolated  from  a  portion  of 
nature's  reality.  And  to  be  handicapped  in  our  sen- 
sational beginnings  is  to  be  handicapped  all  along  the 
line  of  later  intellectual  development.  Begin  at  the 
bottom,  but  do  not  stay  there,  is  our  general  guide  in 
developing  the  intellect.  There  are  types  of  knowledge 
sensational  neither  in  origin  nor  in  character,  as  the 
following  chapters  will  show  us,  but  here  we  must 
affirm  that  all  knowledge  of  the  external  world  so  dear 
to  the  child's  heart  originates  in  a  sensation. 
So  important  a  matter  as  educating  the  senses  can-  Educational 

i  F     i  <•    Opinion. 

not  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  wise  teachers  of 
men,  as  the  following  quotations  will  illustrate.  The 
Moravian  bishop,  Comenius,  who,  according  to  Cotton 
Mather,  was  once  invited  "to  illuminate  the  presidency 
of  our  college"  (Harvard),  writes  on  this  subject: 


88     The   Psychological   Principles  of  Education 


How 
educate 
the  Senses  ? 


The 

Objective 

Method. 


"The  foundation  of  all  knowledge  consists  in  correctly 
representing  sensible  objects  to  our  senses  so  that  they 
can  be  comprehended  with  facility."  And  Rousseau, 
the  prophet  of  naturalism  in  education,  writes:  "The 
first  faculties  which  are  formed  and  perfected  in  us  are 
the  senses.  These,  then,  are  the  first  which  should  be 
cultivated;  but  these  are  the  very  ones  that  we  forget, 
or  that  we  neglect  the  most."  And  that  priest  of  pure 
reason,  Immanuel  Kant,  writes  in  a  famous  passage: 
"How  is  it  possible  that  the  faculty  of  cognition  should 
be  awakened  into  exercise  otherwise  than  by  means  of 
objects  which  affect  our  senses?"  Let  me  conclude 
these  quotations  with  Professor  Sully,  who  early  in  his 
psychological  work  began  to  write  helpful  words  for 
teachers:  "Distinct  and  sharply  defined  sense-impres- 
sions are  the  first  conditions  of  clear  imagination  and 
exact  thinking." 

From  all  these  words  bringing  with  us  the  feeling  of 
the  importance  of  the  topic  in  hand,  we  may  next  raise 
the  practical  and  none  too  easy  question,  how  edu- 
cate the  senses  ? 

In  the  first  place,  utilize  the  objective  method  of 
teaching.  The  sense-basis  of  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
ternal world  demands  the  sense-basis  of  teaching  the 
facts  of  the  external  world.  Indeed,  even  in  teaching 
the  facts  of  the  internal  or  conscious  world  it  is  most 
profitable  to  use  sensible  illustrations  where  they  do  not 
positively  mislead.  Old  Dr.  Coit  used  to  remark,  I 
believe,  that  he  would  not  teach  theology  without  a 
blackboard.  So  far  as  possible  under  the  limitations 


Opening  the  Windows  of  Consciousness     89 

of  the  subject  taught,  all  teaching  should  be  objective  in 
character,  appealing  to  consciousness  through  the  sen- 
sations. It  is  interesting  physiologically  that  the  optic 
nerve  is  as  large  as  all  the  other  afferent  nerves  com- 
bined, yet  teachers  rely  almost  entirely  upon  the  audi- 
tory nerve,  handling  gingerly  chalk  and  things.  Books 
and  talk  are  too  exclusively  our  tools.  As  a  certain 
Cuban  remarked  of  a  bright  American  girl  whom  he 
had  but  recently  met,  "Too  much  language."  Show 
the  objects  of  which  you  speak.  Let  there  be  demon- 
stration. When  the  thing  itself  cannot  possibly  be  ob- 
tained, recourse  must  be  had  to  pictures,  stereopticons, 
casts,  drawings,  models,  and,  best  of  all,  travel.  I 
know  of  a  book  course  hi  botany  where  the  members  of 
the  class  did  not  see  a  plant  until  the  final  examination. 
This  is  not  you,  faithful  reader,  but  ten  to  one  you  are 
to-day  teaching  some  other  subject  without  full  appeal 
to  the  senses  of  your  pupils.  Spelling  to-day  would  not 
be  the  rare  and  difficult  accomplishment  it  is,  if  hand, 
eye,  ear,  and  lips,  with  mind,  all  united  in  getting  the 
word  as  it  is.  One  of  the  principles  enunciated  by 
Herbert  Spencer  in  his  great  chapter  on  "Intellectual 
Education"  is,  "Our  lessons  ought  to  start  from  the 
concrete  and  end  in  the  abstract."  First  the  sensation, 
then  the  thought,  or,  as  Comenius  phrased  it,  "First 
the  thing,  then  the  word."  Many  pupils  and  teachers 
will  testify  that  sensations  are  more  provocative  of 
thought  than  are  other  thoughts. 

Second,  utilize  aright  those  agencies  in  the  curriculum  Curriculum 
that  make  for  the  training  of  the  senses.    These  agencies 
include  the  kindergarten,  object-lessons,  nature-study, 


90    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

the  sciences,  manual  training,  penmanship,  drawing, 
vocal  music,  and  similar  work.  One  of  the  most  valu- 
able of  the  senses  of  man  is  the  muscular  sense,  report- 
ing movements,  strains,  pressures,  and  the  like,  and  it  is 
entirely  overlooked  in  the  historic  list  of  the  five  senses 
of  man.  The  muscles  occupy  more  of  the  anatomy 
than  all  the  other  senses  combined,  and  education,  fol- 
lowing in  the  line  of  the  traditional  senses  of  man,  is 
just  beginning  to  realize  it  has  a  service  to  render  to 
the  muscles  as  sources  of  sensation.  Even  where  we 
have  done  something  for  the  muscles  it  has  often  been 
from  the  wrong  end ;  that  is,  for  the  smaller  rather  than 
the  larger  muscles  of  the  frame.  Fortunately  nature  in 
the  play  of  children  has  offset  the  detrimental  influence 
of  the  minute  actions  which  the  school  has  exacted  of 
its  pupils.  Play,  games,  athletics,  gymnastics,  running, 
romping,  climbing,  come  first  in  muscular  develop- 
ment. Then  for  the  smaller  muscles  the  work  of  the 
kindergarten,  manual  training,  penmanship,  and  draw- 
ing are  beneficial,  indeed  indispensable.  Poor  pen- 
manship and  worse  drawing  are  largely  due  to  lack  of 
discrimination  between  delicate  muscular  movements, 
together  with  a  lack  of  coordination  between  the  muscles 
and  the  eye. 

For  the  centres  of  touch,  sight,  and  hearing  there 
are  object-lessons,  nature-study,  the  sciences,  and 
vocal  music.  Too  frequently  our  object-lessons  have 
as  their  aim  information  concerning  the  object;  this 
is  a  legitimate  aim,  but  it  is  secondary  to  the  prime 
aim  of  training  the  powers  of  observation.  From  them 
the  child  is  to  get  the  idea  that  things  are  to  be  looked 


Opening  the  Windows  of  Consciousness     91 

at,  listened  to,  felt,  taken  to  pieces,  etc.,  that  they  may 
be  understood.  Even  though  we  teach  those  subjects 
ordinarily  supposed  to  afford  little  basis  for  sense- 
training,  such  as  the  languages,  mathematics,  and 
history,  once  we  get  the  idea,  we  shall  be  surprised  and 
delighted  at  how  much  we  can  do  for  our  subjects  by 
putting  them  down  on  a  sense-basis. 
Third,  the  school  should  be  equipped  with  certain  Risht 

f    *  r   .  Equipment. 

sensory  apparatus,  such  as  cases  for  minerals,  plants, 
animals,  and  curios  collected  by  pupils;  also,  sets  of 
tools,  weights,  measures,  scales,  and  regular  plane  and 
solid  figures,  all  accessible  to  pupils  for  their  use  when 
needed.  A  case  of  tools  is  the  full  educational  equiva- 
lent of  a  dictionary.  It  is  the  sense  of  real  material 
things,  objective  facts,  that  children  want  and  need, 
and  the  loss  of  which  turns  even  the  scholarship  of  men 
into  pedantry.  The  student  of  mathematics  needs  his 
plane  and  solid  figures,  from  which  as  a  base  his  imagi- 
nation can  take  wing.  The  equipment  of  the  school 
with  cases  for  collections  of  various  kinds  by  pupils  is 
not  intended  primarily  to  make  pupils  collectors,  but 
to  cultivate  in  them  to  some  degree  the  spirit  of  the 
naturalist.  At  the  entrance  to  every  wood  conscious- 
ness should  habitually  give  itself  the  suggestion  of  the 
railroad  crossing,  "Stop,  look,  listen."  How  much 
more  quickly  the  denizens  of  the  forest  are  aware 
of  us  than  are  we  of  them ! 

Fourth,  it  would  add  greatly  both  to  the  pleasure  and  T^6  Sense 

3  .    of  Smell. 

the  aesthetic  enjoyment  of  man  if  his  sense  of  smell 
were  better  trained.  The  history  of  this  sense  in  the 
race  has  shown  a  gradual  transition  from  the  useful  in 


92    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

animals  and  primitive  man  to  the  aesthetic  in  modern 
man.  The  olfactory  lobes  in  the  brain  have  shown  a 
relative  decrease  in  size.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
man  can  recover  what  the  sense  of  smell  means  to  his 
dog,  or  even  to  primitive  men,  who  may  have  found  it 
useful  in  discovering  the  presence  of  enemies,  nor 
would  such  a  recovery  be  desirable,  though  the  chemist, 
the  druggist,  the  physician,  and  the  chef  would  deny 
that  smell  is  no  longer  useful  to  man.  The  real  ground 
for  giving  more  educational  attention  to  the  sense  of 
smell  is  aesthetic.  As  Professor  Sully  observes :  "The 
cultivating  of  the  sense  of  smell,  of  sensibility  to  the 
odors  of  flower  and  herb,  pasture  and  wood,  summer 
and  autumn,  is  an  important  ingredient  in  the  formation 
of  aesthetic  taste,  and  more  especially  the  development 
of  the  love  of  nature,  which  is  a  prime  factor  in  all  real 
enjoyment  of  poetry."  * 

It  would  probably  surprise  us  to  read  our  favor- 
ite poet  with  a  view  to  noting  his  reliance  upon  the 
suggestiveness  of  the  odors  of  soil,  flowers,  fruit,  per- 
fumes, and  the  rest.  The  associations  that  cluster 
about  odors  are  peculiarly  vivid  and  lasting :  given  a 
certain  rare  and  delicate  odor,  our  minds  quickly  and 
easily  revert  to  the  times,  places,  and  persons  where 
it  was  experienced  before.  And  the  joy  of  the  outdoor 
life,  into  the  fulness  of  which  modern  man  seems  des- 
tined to  come  later,  if  not  sooner,  depends  to  a  degree  of 
which  we  are  unconscious  upon  the  messages  of  nature 
that  assail  our  nostrils.  To  note  and  enjoy  them  is 
to-day  the  sign  of  a  favored  or  poetic  child  of  nature. 

1  Quoted  by  T.  J.  Morgan,  "Studies  in  Pedagogy,"  p.  48. 


Opening  the  Windows  of  Consciousness     93. 

Fifth,  the  sounds  of  the  schoolroom  should  be  accu-  Sounds  of 
rm  •    i    •  -i  i     t'ie  School- 

rate,  not  slovenly.     The  ear  is  being  trained  constantly  room. 

by  all  the  sounds  it  receives.  When  both  teacher  and 
pupils  are  clear  and  distinct  in  their  enunciation,  the 
ear  is  trained  unconsciously  to  right  standards,  and  easily 
detects  a  mispronunciation  in  oneself  or  others.  Ex- 
pressive and  well  modulated  reading,  a  rightly  pitched 
voice,  clearly  expressed  answers,  all  help  to  exercise 
the  ear  aright. 

And  sixth,   see  that  the  sense-organs,   particularly  Care  for 

*   Sense- 
eye  and  ear,  are  intact,  and  are  kept  so  by  the  economy  organs. 

of  the  school.  Any  principal  with  the  letter-on-card 
devices  of  the  oculists  can  quickly  tell  if  any  pupil  is 
near-  or  far-sighted,  or  has  some  trouble  needing  the 
examination  of  a  specialist;  or  whether  some  pupils 
are  partially  deaf,  by  testing  each  ear  with  the  tick  of 
the  watch  at  the  normal  distance,  itself  determined  by 
averaging  cases.  Pupils  deficient  in  any  sense-organ 
should  be  quickly  discovered  and  their  parents  noti- 
fied of  their  need.  Not  far  from  a  majority  of  truants 
are  probably  deficient  in  some  sense-organ.  Often 
a  pupil  is  sensitive  about  his  weakness,  and  receives 
blame  from  his  teachers  through  being  misunder- 
stood, and  so  quickly  feels  himself  out  of  adjustment 
with  the  school.  Often,  too,  a  pupil  is  unconscious 
of  his  own  weakness.  All  such  cases,  illustrations  of 
which  will  probably  occur  to  the  reader,  need  quick 
and  appropriate  treatment.  And  the  school  economy 
should  itself  carefully  preserve  eyesight  through  right 
position  at  study,  disposition  of  light,  use  of  shades, 
proximity  to  the  blackboard,  and  instruction  in  care 


94    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

for  the  eyes  on  cars,  in  the  twilight,  and  in  the  home- 
study.  We  are  becoming  a  spectacled  nation  at  an 
alarming  pace.  Study  under  best  conditions  is  a  tax 
on  the  eyes,  as  nature  developed  the  eye  under  con- 
ditions of  long-range  vision,  a  fact  which  now  re- 
quires a  fatiguing  adjustment  to  see  any  near  object. 
The  school  must  all  the  more  avoid  any  unnecessary 
strain. 


Mistakes  in        These,  then,  are  certain  ways  hi  which  the  school  may 

Sense- 
training. 


educate  the  senses.     Other  and  better  ways  are  worthy 


our  study  and  effort.  It  may  be  profitable  for  us  at 
this  point  to  reverse  the  shield  and  refer  to  certain  mis- 
takes in  sense-training.  The  normal  not  infrequently 
is  best  understood  through  contrast  with  the  abnormal. 
Briefly,  then,  to  refer  to  such  mistakes,  the  list  would 
include  the  putting  of  books  before  natural  objects; 
the  substitution  of  words  about  the  thing  for  sensations 
of  the  thing;  the  giving  and  requiring  of  definitions 
before  sensible  illustrations ;  through  the  sense  of  hurry 
not  giving  pupils  time  to  make  their  own  observa- 
tions for  themselves ;  telling  them  what  to  sense  instead 
of  asking  them  what  they  sense ;  appealing  mainly  to 
a  single  sense-organ,  for  instance  the  ear,  even  when 
forms  and  colors  are  in  question;  requiring  pupils  to 
get  from  objects  ideas  with  which  they  are  already 
familiar;  not  showing  the  relations  between  the  suc- 
cessive object  lessons;  continuing  object  lessons  too 
long  after  reflection  has  set  in;  etc.  The  teacher's 
resolve  should  be,  that  my  pupils,  so  far  as  I  am  able, 
shall  open  all  the  windows  of  consciousness  to  earth 


Opening  the  Windows  of  Consciousness     95 

and  sky,  that  having  eyes  they  shall  see,  and  having 
ears  they  shall  hear,  the  things  that  give  both  pleasure 
and  peace. 

To  the  artist  we  must  go  for  the  full  appreciation  of  An  Artist 
the  education  of  the  senses,  and  so  I  append  the  following 
words  from  the  lips  of  George  Frederick  Watts:  — 

"The  education  of  the  people,  that  is  the  great 
question.  Why  do  you  not  concentrate  attention 
upon  that?  To  educate  your  people,  to  draw  out  of 
them  that  which  is  latent  in  them,  to  teach  them  the 
faculties  which  they  themselves  possess,  to  tell  them 
how  to  use  their  senses  and  to  make  themselves  at 
home  with  nature  and  with  their  surroundings,  — 
who  teaches  them  that?  Your  elementary  schools 
don't  do  it.  No;  nor  your  public  schools.  Your 
Eton  and  your  Harrow  are  just  as  much  to  blame, 
perhaps  even  more  so.  What  is  the  first  object  which 
a  real  education  should  aim  at?  To  develop  observa- 
tion in  the  person  educated,  to  teach  him  to  use  his 
eyes  and  his  ears,  to  be  keenly  alive  to  all  that  surrounds 
him,  to  teach  him  to  see,  to  observe,  —  in  short,  every- 
thing is  hi  that.  And  then,  after  you  have  taught  him 
to  observe,  the  next  great  duty  which  lies  immediately 
after  observation  is  reflection,  —  to  teach  him  to  re- 
flect, to  ponder,  to  think  over  things,  to  find  out  the 
cause,  the  reason,  the  why  and  the  wherefore,  to  put 
this  and  that  together,  to  understand  something  of  the 
world  in  which  he  lives,  and  so  prepare  him  for  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  life  in  which  he  may  be  found."  * 

1  W.  T.  Stead,  "  England's  Greatest  Living  Artist :  George  Fred- 
erick Watts,"  Review  of  Reviews,  August,  1902. 


96    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Educatic.: 


PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

i.  A  List  of  the  Sensations. 

a.  What  Sensations  do  for  Consciousness. 

3.  Protection  of  the  Eyes  of  Pupils. 

4.  Spectacles  and  Civilization. 

5.  Truancy  and  Defective  Sense-organs. 

REFERENCES  ON  TRAINING  THE  SENSES 

Adams,  Herbartian  Psychology,  etc.,  ch.  VI. 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  170-172,  247-272. 

Compayre',  Psychology  Applied,  etc.,  ch.  III. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  IV. 

Johonnot,  Principles  and  Practice,  etc.,  pp.  14-25,  and  ch.  V. 

Morgan,  Studies  in  Pedagogy,  ch.  III. 

Preyer,  The  Senses  and  the  Will,  ch.  VII. 

Sully,  The  Teacher's  Handbook,  etc.,  ch.  VI. 

Spencer,  Education,  ch.  II. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

EDUCATING   THE   MIND  TO   PERCEIVE 

A  BRIEF  preliminary  paragraph  must  be  devoted  to 
the  kinds  of  perception ;  following  this,  we  may  inquire 
concerning  the  significance  of  each  kind  of  perception 
for  the  growth  of  consciousness,  and  then  concerning 
the  method  of  educating  the  mind's  perceiving  function. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  perception,  viz.  sense-percep- 
tion and  inner  perception.  When  the  unqualified  term  The  Kinds  oi 
perception  is  used,  sense-perception  is  usually  meant. 
By  sense-perception  is  meant  the  knowledge  of  an  indi- 
vidual sensible  present  thing.  Examples  would  be  the  sense- 
particular  material  objects  of  the  world,  like  books,  F 
desks,  chairs,  tools,  etc.  It  will  be  observed  that  sense- 
perception  is  the  mind's  interpretation  of  a  sensation, 
and  at  this  point  the  present  discussion  touches  the 
one  preceding.  My  sensation  may  report  yellow;  my 
sense-perception  reports  the  gold  ring.  The  defini- 
tion shows  that  the  object  known  in  sense-perception 
is  individual,  otherwise  we  should  have  conception; 
that  it  is  sensible,  that  is,  capable  of  appealing  to  a 
sense-organ;  that  it  is  present,  otherwise  we  should 
have  memory  or  imagination ;  and  that  it  is  spatially 
a  "thing,"  otherwise  we  should  have  inner  perception. 

The  term  inner  perception   must  do   double  duty.   Inner 
We  define  inner  perception  to  be  the  knowledge  of 

H  97 


98    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

self  and  meanings.  The  mind  looking  inward  at  itself, 
and  becoming  aware  of  itself,  its  thoughts,  feelings,  or 
intuitions,  or  the  mind  becoming  aware  of  the  meaning 
of  any  thing,  theory,  or  truth,  is  inner  perception.  For 
example,  by  inner  perception  I  am  aware  both  that  I 
am  now  thinking  of  the  mathematical  axiom'  that  the 
whole  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  its  parts,  and  also  that  it 
means, so  and  so.  These  brief  remarks  concerning  the 
nature  of  sense-  and  inner  perception  will  become 
clearer  as  we  proceed  to  ask  concerning  their  signifi- 
cance for  the  growth  of  consciousness. 

Sense-perception  has  a  significance  for  knowledge, 
for  feeling,  and  for  action.  For  knowledge  sense- 
perception  signifies  that  the  great  and  only  way  by 
which  the  mind  gets  information  of  the  material 
objects  of  existence  in  relation  to  which  we  must  live 
is  through  the  interpretation  of  sensations;  for  this 
conclusion  the  preceding  discussion  on  the  senses  has 
prepared  us.  To  this  conclusion  must  now  be  added 
the  other  things  that  sense-perception  signifies  for 
knowledge;  viz.  the  simplest  form  of  knowledge  and 
easiest  to  acquire  is  that  given  through  sense-perception 
of  particular  things  as  they  exist ;  the  knowledge  of  the 
individual  precedes  the  knowledge  of  the  general;  the 
knowledge  of  the  concrete  precedes  the  knowledge  of 
the  abstract;  and  also,  the  knowledge  of  the  material 
precedes  the  knowledge  of  the  mental. 

For  Feeling.  For  feeling  sense-perception  signifies  how  the  feeling 
of  familiarity  depends  on  repeated  perceptions,  cor- 
responding to  the  excitation  of  old  brain-paths  in 


Educating  the  Mind  to  Perceive  99 

recognizing  objects;  how  the  feeling  of  monotony 
depends  on  too  oft-repeated  perceptions;  how  the 
feeling  of  strangeness  depends  on  novel  perceptions, 
due  to  new  combinations  of  brain-paths;  and  lastly, 
how  the  feelings  of  interest  and  curiosity  depend  on 
novel  perceptions  similar  to  old  ones,  the  old  brain- 
habits  assimilating  to  themselves  the  new,  though 
similar,  situation.  These  observations  to  the  reflective 
teacher  carry  with  them  their  own  application. 

For  action  sense-perception  signifies  that  past  action,  For  Action, 
in  the  form  of  old  brain-habits,  is  the  cause  of  present 
perception,  as  a  musician  excels  hi  the  perception  of 
music;  that  present  action,  in  the  form  of  adjustment 
of  body  or  sense-organ,  is  the  cause  of  present  percep- 
tion, as  when  we  open  our  eyes  to  see,  or  strain  our 
ears  to  hear;  that  perception  is  a  cause  of  action,  as 
when  we  begin  to  talk  on  the  appearance  of  a  com- 
panion and  lapse  again  into  silence  when  he  goes;  and 
still  again,  that  perception  is  the  beginning  of  self- 
controlled  action,  making  possible  the  first  delay  in 
our  reaction  to  a  sensational  stimulus,  as  when  a  child, 
after  perceiving  fire,  checks  his  tendency  to  play  with 
it.  The  more  practical  bearings  on  teaching  of  some 
of  these  meanings  for  action  of  sense-perception  will 
appear  presently. 

Inner  perception,  or  the  mind's  power  of  knowing  TheSig- 

.,      ic  ,  .    .  nificance 

itself    and    recognizing    meanings    wherever    present,  of  Inner 
signifies,  to  begin  with,  the  certainty  of  the  existence  Perception, 
of  consciousness,  which  Descartes  said  he  could  not 
doubt  without  self-contradiction,  an  insight  that  has 


ioo      The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


How  to 
educate  the 
Mind's 
Perceiving 
Function. 


become  one  of  the  corner-stones  of  the  building  of 
modem  philosophy.  Through  inner  perception,  again, 
we  come  to  self-consciousness,  the  wonderful  attribute 
of  man  distinguishing  him  from  the  other  orders  of 
creation;  through  inner  perception  we  attain  that 
knowledge  of  self  which  Socrates  extolled  and  which 
makes  possible  our  modern  introspective  psychology; 
through  inner  perception  as  in  no  other  way  we  realize 
that  the  world  is  for  the  thinker  his  idea,  that  the  most 
real  of  all  relationships  is  that  of  the  subject-object, 
the  thinker  and  the  thought ;  through  inner  perception, 
too,  that  is  unduly  protracted  or  morbidly  introspective, 
action  may  be  crippled,  as  in  the  case  of  Hamlet  as  he 
is  usually,  though  perhaps  mistakenly,  interpreted; 
and,  lastly,  inner  perception  acquaints  us  with  the 
inside  of  existence,  with  the  meanings  and  the  values  of 
men  and  things.  As  the  sun  in  its  glory  is  caught  and 
reflected  by  the  smallest  frost-crystal  or  dew-drop, 
so  the  meaning  of  reality  is  partially  revealed  by  the 
least  mind  that  thinks  of  it.  These  unamplified  con- 
siderations on  the  significance  of  the  two  kinds  of  per- 
ception for  the  growth  of  consciousness,  though  perhaps 
somewhat  taxing  in  themselves,  will  provide  us  with 
the  bases  upon  which  rest  the  practical  suggestions  on 
educating  the  mind  to  perceive,  to  which  we  now  come. 

In  Plato's  famous  contribution  to  the  science  of 
oratory  in  the  "  Phaedrus,"  he  makes  Socrates  say,  in 
effect,  that  "division"  is  one  of  the  two  principles  of 
right  speaking,  "generalization"  being  the  second. 
In  somewhat  the  same  spirit  we  must  now  say,  teach 


Educating  the  Mind  to  Perceive        101 

a  lesson  by  analysis.  If  one  should  teach  as  the  mind  Teach  by 
learns,  and  if  the  individual  notion  is  acquired  before 
a  definite  general  notion  can  be,  perception  preceding 
conception,  then  we  should  teach  the  lesson  as  so  many 
individual  points  or  notions.  Perception  commands 
us  to  individuate  the  lesson.  The  mind  can  get  the 
whole  clearly  only  by  first  getting  the  parts  separately. 

This  implies  that  in  his  preparation  of  the  lesson  the 
teacher  is  to  note  the  points  he  wants  to  make.  These 
points  selected  by  him  to  teach  and  stress  should  be 
both  the  essential  ones  of  the  lesson  and  logically  related 
to  each  other.  If  he  will  avoid  vagueness  in  his  own 
thought  of  the  lesson,  the  teacher  may  be  successful  in 
securing  clarity  in  the  mind  of  his  class. 

Once  these  essential  and  logically  related  points  are 
selected  from  the  complicated  lesson  material,  teach 
them  with  clearness,  with  vividness,  with  force,  and 
with  illustration.  From  a  lesson  so  analyzed  and  pre- 
sented the  pupils  cannot  carry  away  vague  and  indefi- 
nite impressions.  As  one  clever  teacher  remarked, 
"Most  of  my  pupils  almost  know  something."  Just 
as  sense-perception  dissociates  from  each  other  in- 
dividual objects  in  the  rich  continuum  of  sensational 
experience,  so  the  teaching  of  a  lesson  must  make  its 
individual  notions  stand  out  like  the  features  on  the 
countenance. 

Three  of  the  six  great  principles  of  intellectual  edu-  T*16  Prin- 

•  i       i-r     •  r>  t  •  •  ciples  of 

cation  announced  by  Herbert  Spencer  have  immediate  spencer, 
bearing  at  this  point.     They  are:  "In  education  we 
should  proceed  from  the  simple  to  the  complex.  .  .  . 
Our  lessons  ought  to  start  from  the  concrete  and  end  in 


IO2     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

the  abstract.  ...  In  each  branch  of  instruction  we 
should  proceed  from  the  empirical  to  the  rational." 
These  principles  are  needed  almost  as  badly  in  schools 
to-day  as  when  first  written,  and  they  will  never  grow 
old.  They  mean  the  chronological  priority  of  art  to 
science,  of  language  to  grammar,  of  thing  to  word,  of 
fact  to  definition,  and  of  example  to  rule. 
Leam  to  The  next  thing  to  note  is  that  training  in  perception 

by  doing.  involves  training  in  conduct.  We  are  familiar  with  the 
motto,  learn  to  do  by  doing ;  we  must  become  familiar 
with  the  motto,  learn  to  perceive  by  doing.  Train  in 
conduct  to-day,  if  you  would  have  clear  and  accurate 
perception  to-morrow.  The  painter  perceives  colors, 
the  poet  perceives  the  delicate  modulations  in  rhythm, 
the  draftsman  perceives  lines  and  form,  the  worker 
perceives  good  and  bad  qualities  of  work,  and  the 
laboratory  student  perceives  a  poor  experiment.  To 
perceive  a  thing  indeed,  first  make  it.  Our  motor 
reactions,  as  in  drawing  any  familiar  object  like  a 
chair  for  the  first  time,  show  how  vague  is  our  usual 
perception  of  form.  The  basis  of  this  suggestion  is 
that  all  perception  is  due  to  brain-habit,  without  which 
we  should  have  not  a  perception  but  a  sensation. 
Professor  Royce  has  conveyed  the  idea  of  this  para- 
graph in  the  following  way:  "If  you  are  to  train  the 
powers  of  perception,  you  must  train  the  conduct  of 
the  person  who  is  to  learn  how  to  perceive.  Nobody 
sees  more  than  his  activities  have  prepared  him  to  see 
in  the  world."  l 

First  sense-perception,  then  inner  perception;    first 
1  J.  Royce,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  226. 


Educating  the  Mind  to  Perceive        103 
that  which  is  natural,  afterward  that  which  is  spiritual ;  Make  the 

,.  ,  .  ,  .  Transition  to 

first  the  thing,  then  its  meaning.  Rest  not  in  the  inner 
knowledge  of  the  material  thing,  but  pass  onward  to  P""?11011- 
its  inner  significance.  Dr.  Tompkins  writes:  "The 
individual  material  thing  is  the  expression  of  an  univer- 
sal spiritual  truth.  The  material  world  is  the  mani- 
festation of  the  spiritual,  and  must  be  resolved  into  it."  1 
This  resolution  of  the  material  into  the  spiritual  is 
the  reverse  of  the  process  by  which  the  artist  embodies 
his  spiritual  message  in  some  material  form.  The 
granite  shaft  at  Bunker  Hill  is  more  than  stone,  it  is 
both  patriotism  and  gratitude;  a  word  enshrining  its 
idea  is  more  than  letters ;  the  bow  of  hope  and  promise 
is  more  than  the  colors  of  the  spectrum ;  the  lily  rebuk- 
ing our  anxiety  for  clothes  is  more  than  organized  mat- 
ter ;  and  a  sparrow's  fall  is  more  than  an  illustration  of 
the  law  of  gravity.  Lowell  could  indite  with  the 
flavor  of  Emerson,  — 

"  With  our  faint  hearts  the  mountain  strives." 
For  secondary  school  pupils,   to   whom  a  certain  Train  Inner 

...  ,  Perceptions. 

amount  of  introspection  is  natural,  the  mind-world  as 
well  as  the  matter-world  should  be  an  object  of  con- 
scious study.  Inner  as  well  as  outer  perception  should 
be  intentionally  cultivated.  The  sciences  afford  the 
best  opportunity  for  developing  sense-perception,  and 
the  humanities  for  developing  inner  perception.  The 
courses  in  literature  and  history  afford  excellent  con- 
crete material  for  the  definite  study  of  the  human  self, 
bringing  pupils  thereby  into  a  better  comprehension 
of  their  own  inner  states.  The  study  of  the  humanities 

1  Arnold  Tompkins,  "Philosophy  of  Teaching,"  p.  118. 


104     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

should  regularly  include  definite  attention  to  such  mat- 
ters as  putting  oneself  in  the  place  of  the  character 
studied,  the  examination  of  motives,  the  influence  of 
feeling,  the  effect  of  ideas  on  conduct,  the  estimation  of 
different  ambitions,  and  the  effect  of  a  crowd  on  mind 
and  conduct.  Such  attention  to  inner  perception, 
whereby  pupils  become  acquainted  with  the  nature 
of  human  consciousness  in  others  and  themselves,  is 
peculiarly  desirable  for  those  who  will  never  have  a 
chance  in  college  at  social  and  individual  psychology. 
The  latter  year  or  two  of  the  secondary  school  period 
should  be  particularly  rich  in  such  material,  not 
formally  presented  in  a  text,  but  concretely  taught 
in  connection  with  all  the  suitable  courses.  It  is 
the  last  chance  many  boys  and  girls  will  have  of 
attaining  an  instructed  consciousness  of  self. 

On  account  of  the  dominating  influence  of  sense- 
perception  in  the  grades,  it  seems  to  me  we  cannot 
afford  to  go  the  length  Professor  Stanley  advocates 
in  the  following  words,  but  I  quote  them  here  that  we 
may  at  least  be  led  to  consider  how  far  we  must  go 
with  him.  He  writes:  "It  is  high  time  that  scientific 
education  hi  study  of  minds  as  well  as  things  should 
be  adopted  for  the  whole  course  of  school  training.  It 
is  far  more  important  for  the  child  scientifically  to 
study  angers  and  fears  than  seeds  and  larvae ;  in  short, 
to  appreciate  its  own  psychic  state  and  its  psychic  en- 
vironment is  of  more  significance  than  knowledge  of 
its  physical  state  and  environment  ...  A  rational 
scientific  pedagogy  demands,  then,  that  the  teaching  of 
psychology,  that  is,  a  training  in  purely  scientific  ob- 


Educating  the  Mind  to  Perceive         105 

servation  and  interpretation  of  consciousness,  begin 
with  earliest  childhood  and  continue  through  school 
life."  ' 

In  moral  education  the  perception  of  duty  becomes  Moral 
clarified  when   the  present  duty  that  is  seen  is  done,   penis  oiT 


Present  moral  action  leads  to  future  moral  insight. 

Action. 

An  immoral  man's  opinion  on  moral  matters  is  cloudy. 
The  vigorous  actor  is  the  clear  thinker.  Moralists, 
religious  teachers,  and  psychologists  alike  unite  in 
affirming  this  principle.  One  of  the  Proverbs  reads, 
"Commit  thy  works  unto  Jehovah,  and  thy  thoughts 
shall  be  established."  Jesus  said,  "If  any  man  will 
do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine."  Carlyle 
thunders:  "Do  the  duty  which  lies  nearest  thee, 
which  thou  knowest  to  be  a  duty.  Thy  second  duty  will 
already  have  become  clearer."  While  the  calm  Hoffding 
writes,  "A  firm  resolve  carried  out  with  decision  and 
without  hesitation,  clears  up  the  whole  mental  atmos- 
phere and  scatters  the  clouds  which  dim  the  clearness 
of  thought."  2  In  the  mouth  of  many  witnesses  and 
in  the  personal  experience  of  the  reader  the  truth  is 
established  that  moral  practice  is  the  cause  of  moral 
insight. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

i.  The  Distinctions  between  Sensation  and  Sense-perception. 

.2.  A  List  of  the  Sense-percepts. 

3.  Introspection  as  a  Method  in  Psychology. 

4.  Sensationalism  as  an  Epistemology. 

5.  Positivism  as  a  Philosophy. 

1  H.  M.  Stanley,  "The  Teaching  of  Psychology,"  Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  16. 
*  Harold  H6ffding,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  331. 


io6     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


REFERENCES  ON  EDUCATING  THE  MIND  TO  PERCEIVE 

Adams,  Herbartian  Psychology,  etc.,  ch.  VI. 

Baldwin,  Psychology  Applied,  etc.,  chs.  II,  III,  VI. 

Baldwin,  Elementary  Psychology  and  Education,  ch.  VI. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology,  etc.,  chs.  V,  VI. 

Grey,  Rosmini's  Method  in  Education,  pp.  48-56. 

Morgan,  Psychology  for  Teachers,  ch.  TV. 

Morgan,  Studies  in  Pedagogy,  ch.  X. 

Tompkins,  The  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  pp.  115-145. 

Stanley,  The  Teaching  of  Psychology,  Ed.  Rev.,  Vol.  16,  pp.  177 

et  seq. 

Sully,  The  Teacher's  Handbook  of  Psychology,  ch.  VIII. 
White,  Elements  of  Pedagogy,  pp.  38-45. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  EDUCATIONAL  USES   OF  THE  APPERCEPTIVE 
PROCESS 

OWING  to  the  influence  of  Herbart  on  the  psycho- 
logical literature  written  for  teachers,  it  is  probably 
true  that  the  chapter  on  apperception  is  the  most 
familiar  one  in  my  list.  For  this  reason  the  present 
discussion  may  detain  all  of  us  but  little,  and  some  of 
us  not  at  all.  Bearing  always  in  mind  our  practical 
needs  as  teachers  and  avoiding  at  this  point  an  attrac- 
tive historical  excursus  into  the  meaning  of  the  term 
"apperception"  from  Leibniz  through  Kant  to  Herbart 
and  finally  to  Wundt,  let  me  select  for  our  considera- 
tion the  nature,  results,  conditions,  and  uses,  of  apper- 
ception. As  nothing  else  can  do,  the  study  of  apper- 
ception impresses  the  teacher  with  the  importance  of 
viewing  the  lesson  as  the  pupils  from  their  limited  ex- 
perience must  view  it,  for,  as  Professor  De  Garmo  has 
said :  "Modern  child-study  emphasizes  the  fact  that  the 
subject-matter  of  instruction,  together  with  the  sequence 
of  its  topics,  and  the  time  of  its  presentation,  should  be 
governed  by  the  child's  power  to  apperceive.  Further- 
more, methods  of  teaching  and  of  moral  training  should 
take  their  cue  from  the  same  changeable  power."  l 

1  Charles  De  Garmo,  Baldwin's  Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and 
Psychology,  article,  "  Apperception  (in  education)." 

107 


io8     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 
The  Nature        Apperception  may  be  very  simply  defined  as   the 

ofAppercep-  .  .     . 

tion.  mind  s  interpretation  of  the  new  in  terms  of  the  old. 

A  more  technical  definition  from  the  interesting,  though 

Definitions,  prolix,  monograph  of  Lange  on  the  subject  is:  "Apper- 
ception is  that  psychical  activity  by  which  individual 
perceptions,  ideas,  or  idea-complexes  are  brought  into 
relation  to  our  previous  intellectual  and  emotional 
life,  assimilated  with  it,  and  thus  raised  to  greater  clear- 
ness, activity,  and  significance."  *  It  will  be  observed 
from  these  definitions  that  apperception  is  not  so  much 
a  mental  result  like  sensations  and  percepts  as  a  mental 
process.  It  might  be  likened  to  the  physical  process 
of  digestion,  the  sensation  being  the  food,  and  the 
percept  being  the  resultant  acquisition  of  strength. 
To  show  the  relation  of  apperception,  as  a  process  of 
interpreting  new  experiences  according  to  old  ones, 
to  sensation  and  perception,  it  might  be  said  that 
apperception  is  the  mental  assimilation  of  a  sensation 
resulting  in  a  perception. 

illustrations.  Certain  illustrations,  parallels  of  which  can  be  du- 
plicated by  the  dozen  by  all  observers  of  mental  life, 
especially  of  its  transparent  processes  in  artless  chil- 
dren, will  clarify  these  definitions.  Any  child  learn- 
ing to  master  its  physical  environment  acquires  very 
quickly,  even  before  the  age  of  three,  a  limited  though 
growing  set  of  fairly  general  notions,  each  one  of  which 
is  applied  almost  automatically  to  such  new  experi- 
ences as  it  will  at  all  fit.  Two  of  these  general  notions 
most  used  at  present  by  my  little  girl  of  two  and  a 
half  years  is  "asleep"  and  "wake  up."  The  number 

1  Lange,  "Apperception,"  p.  53. 


Educational  Uses  of  Apperceptive  Process     109 

of  situations  to  which  she  finds  these  descriptions  ade- 
quate is  indefinitely  large,  such  as  the  hat,  coat, 
and  gloves  are  "asleep"  when  put  away  and  "wake 
up"  when  brought  out  again;  the  money  is  "asleep" 
when  put  into  the  pocket,  and  "wake  up"  when  taken 
out  again;  the  scissors  are  "asleep"  when  shut  and 
"wake  up"  when  opened;  the  electric  light  is  "asleep" 
when  turned  off  and  "wake  up"  when  turned  on  again  ; 
the  grass  is  "asleep"  when  the  snow  covers  it,  and  the 
snow  is  "asleep"  when  it  melts ;  the  stars  are  "asleep" 
at  sunrise,  and  the  sun  "wake  up,"  etc. 

The  identical  process  is  at  work  also  in  the  mind  of 
older  persons,  only  here  the  number  of  general  notions 
according  to  which  new  experiences  are  ticketed  off 
is  larger  and  fit  better.  All  of  us  find  in  the  world 
what  we  ourselves  are ;  we  bring  back  from  our  travels 
according  to  what  we  carry ;  our  judgments  reveal  our- 
selves as  truly  as  their  objects ;  more  is  given  us  accord- 
ing as  we  already  have ;  we  see  what  we  have  eyes  to 
see ;  we  hear  what  we  have  ears  to  hear ;  our  life  makes 
our  philosophy ;  and  so  on  through  the  list  of  the  familiar 
true  sayings.  In  his  educational  masterpiece,  "  Wilhelm 
Meister,"  Goethe  wrote,  "Man  understands  nothing 
but  what  is  appropriate  to  him.  Hence  the  duty  of 
saying  to  others  only  the  things  that  they  can  receive." 
Similarly  Emerson:  "What  can  we  see  or  acquire  but 
what  we  are?  You  have  seen  a  skilful  man  reading 
Vergil.  Well,  that  author  is  a  thousand  books  to  a 
thousand  persons.  Take  the  book  into  your  hand  and 
read  your  eyes  out,  you  will  never  find  what  I  find." 
Apperception  is  thus  a  human  process,  signifying  that 


no     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Results 
of  Apper- 
ception. 
The  New 
Modified. 


The  Old 
Modified. 


Compre- 
hension. 


Interest. 


Unity. 


all  limitations  to  our  insight  are  subjective  in  origin 
and  character,  the  gradual  widening  of  these  limita- 
tions being  the  natural  destiny  of  the  growing  life. 

Seeing  thus  the  nature  of  apperception,  it  will  be  easy 
to  specify  briefly  its  results  for  consciousness.  Apper- 
ception, in  the  first  place,  modifies  the  new  by  the  old. 
This  is  its  most  characteristic  result.  We  can  see  in 
the  new  only  what  our  old  experience  permits  us  to 
see. 

Secondly,  it  is  no  less  true  that  the  new  also  modifies 
the  old ;  it  takes  its  place  with  the  old,  and  becomes  a 
part  of  the  old  against  the  next  new  experience.  To  a 
child  raised  in  a  Saxon  community  all  men  are  white 
until  travel  shows  him  that  a  particular  color  is  not  an 
essential  quality  of  man. 

Thirdly,  apperception  yields  comprehension.  We 
know  a  thing  when  we  can  classify  it,  when  we  can 
relate  it  properly  to  other  things.  What  we  cannot 
relate,  we  cannot  understand ;  indeed,  the  unassimilable 
either  escapes  our  notice  altogether  or  else  is  quickly 
lost. 

Fourthly,  and  full  of  significance  'for  the  teacher, 
apperception  means  interest.  Two  things  are  unin- 
teresting to  pupils ;  monotonous  old  things  and  unin- 
telligible new  things.  What  interests  them  is  the  novel 
intelligible  thing. 

Fifthly,  apperception  gives  unity  to  our  knowledge. 
The  disconnected  it  seeks  to  join,  the  fragmentary  it 
seeks  to  piece  together.  To  use  a  crude  figure  of 
speech  to  illustrate  mental  effects,  apperception  is  the 


Educational  Uses  of  Apperceptive  Process    1 1 1 

mortar  that  holds  the  stones  together  in  the  temple  of 
knowledge. 
And  sixthly,  the  use  of  one's  present  knowledge  in  Conscious- 

"  ness  of 

acquiring  more  gives  a  certain  consciousness  of  power  power. 
that  is  very  stimulating  and  encouraging  to  pupils. 
They  have  done  something  of  themselves  and  they  feel 
it,  the  fount  of  knowing  is  springing  up  within  them, 
and  they  recognize  the  truth,  not  simply  because  of  the 
teacher's  words,  but  as  seeing  for  themselves. 

The  results  of  the  apperceptive  process  are  so  many  The 

3     Conditions  of 

and  so  desirable  in  the  class-room  and  laboratory  and  Effective  AP- 
workshop  that  we  may  profitably  inquire  next  con- 
cerning  the  conditions  of  effective  apperception.  These 
are,  in  succession,  first,  the  existence  in  the  mind  of  a 
rich  and  varied  " apperceiving  mass."  There  is  no 
understanding  of  the  strange,  new,  and  difficult  things 
pupils  are  constantly  struggling  to  learn  apart  from 
present  similar  ideas  already  in  consciousness.  Every 
child  has  his  little  mind  really  full  of  apperceiving 
notions  of  some  description ;  unfortunately  they  are  not 
always  rich  and  varied,  owing  to  the  limitations  of  past 
environment. 

The  second  condition  is  attention  to  the  new  subject.  Attention. 
So  essentially  related  indeed  are  the  processes  of  apper- 
ception and  attention  that  to  Leibniz,  who  first  used  the 
term  apperception,  the  terms  were  practically  synony- 
mous, and  to  Wundt  to-day  attention  is  one  of  the 
elements  involved  in  apperception.  Attention  it  is 
that  spans  the  gulf  between  the  old  and  the  new,  per- 
mitting them  to  fuse.  At  the  beginning  of  the  process 


ii2     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Emotional 
Congruity. 


Physical 
Conditions. 


The  Use  of 
Appercep- 
tion in 
Teaching. 


Study  the 
Pupils. 


of  apperception,  the  attention  may  be  hard  or  easy  to 
give  to  the  new  matter ;  as  the  process  of  apperception 
proceeds,  the  attention  becomes  increasingly  easy. 

The  third  condition  is  the  sense  of  harmony  between 
the  class  and  the  subject.  Their  feelings  are  agreeable 
to  the  work,  their  spirit  and  humor  are  right  toward 
it,  and  the  general  atmosphere  is  invigorating.  No 
teacher  can  work  the  miracle  of  knowledge  in  an  unex- 
pectant  class ;  no  revelation  of  truth  can  come  to  an 
una wakened  mind. 

And  the  fourth  condition  of  effective  apperception  is 
good  physical  conditions,  within  and  without  the  body. 
Then  the  reactive  energy  of  the  mind  is  strong,  and  the 
class  "catches  on"  with  facility.  Attention,  rapport, 
comprehension,  are  all  difficult  to  weak,  nervous  bodies 
or  to  strong  bodies  under  physical  discomfort. 

Turning  from  the  nature,  results,  and  conditions  of 
apperception,  we  now  come  to  the  most  practical  of 
the  questions  concerning  it,  viz.  what  use  may  be 
made  of  apperception  in  teaching?  In  the  first  place, 
we  must  study  to  know  the  mental  content  of  our  pupils. 
This  enables  us  always  to  teach  out  from  where  they 
now  are.  It  is  easier  —  though  not  easy  —  for  the 
teacher  to  come  down  to  the  plane  of  the  learners  than 
for  the  learners  to  come  up  to  the  plane  of  the  teacher. 
The  things  that  possess  the  consciousness  of  children, 
we  shall  find,  are  not  the  logically  most  important  things, 
they  are  the  practical  daily  things,  like  other  children, 
animals,  food,  clothing,  objects,  play,  etc.  With  chil- 
dren we  shall  also  find  that  the  deed  or  the  thing  is 


Educational  Uses  of  Apperceptive  Process     113 

learned  prior  to  the  name  of  it.  Unlike  the  players  in 
"Hamlet,"  they  suit  the  word  to  the  action.  Except 
we  be  converted  from  our  adult  ways  of  thinking,  and 
become  as  little  children,  we  cannot  enter  the  kingdom 
of  teaching.  And  of  every  great  teacher,  whatsoever 
the  age  of  his  pupils,  it  must  be  said  that  he  knew  what 
was  in  man. 

Second,  we  must  study  to  utilize  the  mental  content  utilize  their 
of  our  pupils.  Lazarus  has  said,  "The  apperceiving 
notions  usually  stand  like  armed  soldiers  within  the 
stronghold  of  consciousness,  ready  to  pounce  upon 
everything  which  shows  itself  within  the  portals  of  the 
senses,  in  order  to  overcome  it  and  make  it  serviceable 
to  themselves."  These  armed  soldiers  sometimes  lie 
sleeping ;  they  need  first  of  all  to  be  awakened.  Figures 
aside,  this  means  that  the  proper  apperceptive  mass 
must  be  stimulated  before  presenting  new  material. 
The  mind's  own  spontaneity  cannot  be  trusted  always  to 
bring  forth  the  right  apperceiving  material  without  sug- 
gestion from  the  teacher.  The  most  difficult  and  re- 
mote conceptions  are  made  easy  and  clear  by  utilizing 
the  mental  content  already  present,  as  when  the  con- 
ception of  discipleship  is  presented  to  Galilean  fisher- 
men under  the  term  "fishers  of  men." 

Third,  utilize  particularly  the  beginning  and  end  of  The  Opening 

.       .  '  .  .          and  Closing 

the  recitation  to  aid  apperception.     Begin  by  putting  ofthe 
the  class  in  touch  with,  the  subject,  —  call  to  mind  famil-  Recitation- 
iar  knowledge  similar  to  the  new  you  would  present, 
or,  better,  ask  free  and  informal  questions  on  past 
experiences  or  study   similar  in   content   to   to-day's 
material.      Never  fail  at  the  beginning  of  a  recitation 
i 


1 14     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Knit  New 
to  Old. 


Supply  Ap- 

perceptive 

Material. 


Take  Time. 


to  state  clearly,  with  all  alert,  the  purpose  of  the  lesson 
in  hand.  End  a  recitation  also  by  suggesting  the  next 
subject,  clearing  up  in  advance  any  insuperably  difficult 
matter,  showing  the  relationship  of  that  to  this,  referring 
to  a  related  reading,  etc. 

Fourth,  and  now  I  say,  in  the  middle  of  the  recitation 
also  present  new  material  always  in  relation  to  old,  by 
story,  by  illustration,  by  parable,  by  review,  by  question- 
ing the  class  on  its  experience.  As  James,  the  wonder- 
ful, has  it,  "The  great  maxim  in  pedagogy  is  to  knit 
every  new  piece  of  knowledge  on  to  a  preexisting 
curiosity;  i.e.  to  assimilate  its  matter  in  some  way  to 
what  is  already  known."  l 

Fifth,  teachers  must  supply  the  apperceiving  material 
when  lacking.  It  is  the  prior  experience  of  the  child 
that  fits  him  for  our  instruction ;  if  he  has  had  no  fitting 
prior  experience,  we  must  do  what  we  can  to  supply  his 
deficiency,  remembering  too  that  most  of  our  pupils 
have  had  only  inadequate  prior  experience.  This  idea 
may  be  illustrated  by  observational  tramps  in  geog- 
raphy; visits  to  the  famous  places,  battlegrounds,  and 
museums  in  history ;  pictures,  and  stories  about  authors, 
their  lives,  their  homes,  in  literature ;  the  use  of  current 
market  prices  in  arithmetic,  etc.  In  general,  create 
and  utilize  the  apperceiving  mass. 

Sixth,  allow  ample  time  for  the  new  impression  to 
find  its  proper  home  in  the  mind.  Not  cram,  not  too 
many  recitations,  not  too  long  assignments,  not  too 
many  studies,  not  too  much  haste,  but  time  to  assimi- 
late, to  think,  leisurely  to  absorb,  and  to  grow.  All 
*  James,  "Principles  of  Psychology,"  Vol.  II,  p.  no,  note. 


Educational  Uses  of  Apperceptive  Process     115 

this  is  little  short  of  impossible,  I  know,  when  to-day 
the  pressure  is  so  great  from  both  below  and  above. 
Meanwhile,  however,  till  we  Americans  learn  the 
classic  art  of  slow  haste,  we  teachers  may  select  a  few 
essential  points  for  each  meeting  with  our  class  and 
drive  these  home  in  preference  to  scurrying  over  many 
matters. 

Seventh,  a  word  about  "correlation."  Apperception  Correlation, 
teaches  us  that  the  true  correlation  is  with  life.  Of 
course  it  is  true  that  successive  lessons  must  be  correlated 
with  each  other,  that  a  single  subject  must  be  self- 
correlated,  that  all  the  subjects  must  be  correlated  with 
each  other,  perhaps  even  with  some  central  subject; 
but,  after  all,  life  is  the  centre  with  which  each  lesson, 
subject,  and  curriculum  must  be  correlated.  Apper- 
ception teaches  us  henceforth  to  know  no  centre  of 
correlation  except  the  child  and  his  experience.  Teach- 
ing is  an  extension  of  experience  out  from  the  known 
into  the  unknown.  Every  class-room  is  the  sacred 
place  where  truth  reveals  itself  to  prepared  minds. 

In  concluding  our  discussion  of  the  subject  of  apper-  Education 
ception  which  has  occupied  such  a  large,  though  unre- 
lated  place,  in  post-Herbartian  pedagogical  literature, 
let  us  conceive  of  education  itself  as  an  apperceptive 
mass.  It  will  be  a  true  conception,  though  not  the 
whole  truth.  The  educated  mind  alone,  though  often 
falling  below  its  privilege,  is  permitted  to  get  the  most 
and  the  best  from  life;  only  in  proportion  as  we  are 
truly  educated  are  we  able  to  apperceive  life  in  its 
reality.  The  secret  of  life  is  revealed  only  to  those  who 


n6     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

lead  the  real  life,  and  the  revelation  of  the  secret  of  life 
is  an  unfolding  revelation  because  the  real  life  is  an 
unfolding  process.  As  Herder  said,  "What  we  are  not 
we  can  neither  know  nor  feel,"  and  Longfellow  adds, 
"We  see  what  we  have  the  gift  to  see;"  and  meaning 
the  same  thing,  though  more  enigmatical,  are  the  say- 
ings, "To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,"  and,  "He  that 
hath  ears  let  him  hear."  It  is  the  business  of  education 
to  open  the  blind  eyes,  to  unstop  the  deaf  ears,  to  loosen 
the  silent  tongue,  to  equip  the  mind  to  react  rightly  on 
its  world. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  .FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  History  of  the  Term  Apperception. 

2.  The  Physiological  Explanation  of  Apperception. 

3.  The  Influence  of  Old  Habits  on  New  Experience. 

REFERENCES  ON  APPERCEPTION 

De  Garmo,  Essentials  of  Method,  chs.  II,  III. 

De  Garmo,  Herbart,  Part  II,  ch.  VII. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  XIII. 

Dewey,  Psychology,  pp.  85-90. 

Harris,  Herbart  and  Pestalozzi  Compared,  Ed.  Rev.,  May,  1893. 

Hughes,  Froebel's  Educational  Laws,  ch.  IX. 

James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  ch.  XIV. 

Lange,  Apperception. 

McMurry,  Elements  of  General  Method,  ch.  VI. 

O'Shea,  Education  as  Adjustment,  ch.  XII. 

Rooper,  A  Pot  of  Green  Feathers. 

Stout,  Analytic  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  ch.  VIII. 

Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  Book  III,  ch.  I. 

Witmer,  Analytic  Psychology,  ch.  L 


CHAPTER   X 

AIDING   MEMORY 

"THERE  is  no  topic  in  educational  psychology  more  The  impor- 

,    .  .  ,    tance  of 

important  than  that  of  memory  and  its  cultivation."  l  considering 
We  may  suggest  several  reasons  why  this  opinion  of  Memo|T- 
Dr.  Harris  is  true.      First,  because  the  importance  of 
memory  has  been   so  overrated  in  the  past  of  educa-  it  has  been 
tional  history.     Indeed,  it  might  be  said  that  hitherto 
memory   has  been   the  pack-horse  of  education.    It 
has  received  more  attention  from  past  teachers  than, 
to  use  an  outgrown  terni,  any  other  "faculty"  of  con- 
sciousness.    Of  course  the  Jesuit  systems  of  education 
have  been  and  are  the  best,  though  not  the  only,  illus- 
trations, saying  as  they  do,  "repititio  mater  studiorum." 

Second,  along  with  the  overrating  of  the  importance  and  °P- 
of  memory  has  naturally  gone  unjust  oppressions.  It 
has  been  made  to  do  double  or  treble  duty.  Its  cul- 
tivation so  nearly  excluded  attention  to  any  of  the 
other  mental  functions  that  one  of  the  many  varia- 
tions on  the  historic  " Three  R's"  is,  "rod,  rule,  and 
remembrance."  With  this  oppression  memory- work 
became  also  perforce  formal  and  mechanical  instead  of 
real  and  vital. 

Third,  in  contrast  with  the  overrating  of   the  past,   it  is  under- 

rated. 

and  by  a  kind  of  natural  reaction,  the  importance  of 

1  W.  T.  Harris,  Editor's  Preface  in  Kay's  volume  on  Memory. 
"7 


1 1 8     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

memory  is  being  underrated  to-day,  especially  the 
importance  of  verbal  and  rote  memorizing.  No  one 
at  the  present  time  would  make  verbal  memory  the 
chief  mental  accomplishment;  still  it  would  be  too 
much  to  say  that  a  verbal  memory  has  no  value.  It 
is  important  in  life  to  have  an  accurate  and  ready  mem- 
ory, to  be  able  to  quote  correctly  and  aptly  and  quickly, 
to  remember  names  with  faces,  and  to  make  what 
we  know  come  up  for  immediate  service.  So  many 
things  upon  the  verge  of  which  our  memory  trembles ! 
There  is  a  truth,  though  not  a  prepotent  one,  in  one 
of  the  old  phrases,  "Tantum  scimus  quantum  memo- 
ria  tenemus."  Almost  nobody  has  a  good  word  for 
"mere  memory"  to-day,  although  we  sorely  miss  its 
absence,  as  in  our  poor  spelling. 

Fourth,  let  us  outrightly  maintain  what  we  con- 
ceive to  be  the  truth,  what  we  all  feel  must  be  the  truth 
when  we  think  about  it  twice,  viz.  the  real  indispen- 
sableness  of  memory  in  education  and  in  life.  As 
Bain  has  it,  though  perhaps  too  strongly  phrased, 
itisindis-  "The  leading  inquiry  hi  the  Art  of  Education  is  how 
to  strengthen  the  memory."  We  correctly  think  of 
memory  as  knowledge  of  the  past;  without  it,  our 
present  would  be  unintelligible  and  our  future  unan- 
ticipated. The  true  and  indispensable  function  of 
memory  is  to  make  our  reactions  upon  present  and 
future  stimuli  more  intelligent,  reliable,  and  effective. 
In  addition  to  this  practical  service,  the  pleasures  of 
memory  are  manifold,  particularly  as  it  has  a  trick 
of  dwelling  mostly  upon  our  joys  and  successes. 

And  fifth,  it  is  important  for  us  to  consider  memory 


Aiding  Memory  119 

because  of  the  many  flaring  announcements  of  "mem- 
ory systems,"  mnemonics,  and  artificial  devices  for 
memory- training  that  are  afloat,  that  have  a  smatter-  "Memory 
ing  of  psychological  principles,  and  catch  the  dollars 
of  the  unsophisticated.  Even  the  photographs  of 
memory  professors  are  not  unfamiliar  to  the  readers 
of  advertisements,  as  who  of  us  are  not  in  these  days 
when  the  advertisers  in  the  magazines  often  show  a 
more  efficient  use  of  "the  psychological  moment" 
than  the  contributors?  Probably  the  decadence  of 
the  power  to  remember,  through  educational  neglect, 
has  contributed  somewhat  to  the  opportunity  for  "mem- 
ory systems"  to  announce  themselves,  after  the  fash- 
ion of  the  following:  — 

86,000  Injured 
10,000  Killed 

These  official  figures  for  the  latest  fiscal 
year  represent  the  unprecedented  record  of 
injury  and  slaughter  on  the  railway  systems 
of  the  United  States.  The  epidemic  of 
wrecks  is  rapidly  increasing.  Since  July  1st 
268  lives  have  been  lost  in  railway  wrecks, 
not  counting  hundreds  of  casualties.  The 
reason  back  of  almost  every  recent  smash-up 
can  be  almost  invariably  expressed  in  the 
two  words :  — 

"I  FORGOT" 

Either  the  despatcher,  the  operator,  the  con- 
ductor, the  engineer,  or  the  brakeman  FOR- 
GOT something  vitally  important.  Beyond 
every  mechanical  safeguard,  every  provision 


I2o     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

of  "  standard  code,"  or  special  rule  lies  the 
"human  factor,"  and  the  most  important 
element  in  this  factor  is  MEMORY.  This 
is  true  of  every  branch  of  the  operating  de- 
partment of  every  railway,  and  it  is  true  of 
almost  every  other  responsible  position  in 
active  life.  If  you  want  your  memory  as  in- 
fallible as  it  is  possible  to  get  it,  study  "  As- 
similative Memory  :  — 

How  to  Attend 
^  Never  Forget" 

which  is  the  title  of  the  book  that  contains 
the  complete  LOISETTE  MEMORY  SYS- 
TEM. This  system,  which  formerly  has 
been  sold  only  under  the  most  rigid  restric- 
tions and  at  a  high  price,  develops  and 
brings  into  action  dormant  and  hitherto 
unused  memory  power.  It  gives  a  right  direc- 
tion to  mental  functions  and  powers,  com- 
pletely abolishing  mind-wandering  and  in- 
suring ACCURACY  and  PRECISION  of 
thought.  It  increases  by  many  fold  the 
value  of  every  mind.  I2mo,  cloth,  $2.50. 


A  sure  sign  of  the  prevalence  and  the  influence  of 
such  sensational  promises  is  the  appearance  of  satire.1 
Mnemonics.  Let  us  for  a  moment  stop  to  illustrate  and  estimate 
these  mnemonics,  or  artificial  devices  for  aiding  mem- 
ory. Simple  and  untechnical  mnemonics  we  all  have 
probably  used,  illustrations  of  which  are,  the  string 
around  the  finger,  the  knot  in  the  handkerchief,  "Thirty 
days  has  September,"  etc.,  the  multiplication  line 
nine,  with  its  decreasing  units  and  its  increasing  tens, 

1  See,  for  example,  a  witty  skit  by  Carolyn  Wells  in  the  October 
Century,  1904,  on  "Professor  Lose-It's  School  of  Forgettory." 


Aiding  Memory  121 

"Roy  G.  Biv"  for  the  colors  of  the  spectrum,  giving 
the  first  letter  of  each  color  in  order  from  red  to  violet, 
and,  most  famous  of  all,  the  formal  logic  lines  begin- 
ning, "Barbara  Celarent,"  etc. 

But  the  advertised  memory  systems  use  a  more  tech- 
nical device,  as  well  as  these  simpler  ones.     The  prin- 

.  Principle. 

ciple  of  every  mnemonic  system  is  to  form  some  sort 
cf  association,  usually  accidental,  with  the  thing  to  be 
remembered,  this  accidental  association  being  fixed 
in  consciousness  by  thought  and  attention.  Who, 
for  example,  could  forget  the  height  of  Pike's  Peak  as 
12,365  feet  in  case  he  had  ever  indelibly,  though  me- 
chanically, associated  it  with  the  number  of  the  months 
and  days  of  the  year?  One  of  the  most  elaborate 
mechanical  ways  of  remembering  dates  and  numbers 
is  by  means  of  the  so-called  "figure-alphabet,"  in 
which  each  figure  has  one  or  more  consonants  which 
represent  it.  The  figure-alphabet  is  first  to  be  fixed 
in  mind,  then  the  number  or  date  is  remembered  by 
making  a  fitting  word  of  the  consonants  representing 
the  numbers,  supplying  vowels.  For  example,  it 
is  desired  to  remember  the  date  of  the  founding  of 
Harvard,  1636.  In  the  figure-alphabet  the  conso- 
nants representing  the  successive  figures  in  the  date 
are  /,  ch,  nt,  ch.  Connecting  these  by  certain  vowels, 
we  get  teach  much  as  the  key  to  the  founding  of  Har- 
vard ! 

How  shall  we  estimate  such  mental  foolery?    Per-  Estimation, 
haps  it  would  be  too  much  to  say  sweepingly  mnemon- 
ics have  no  value  at  all.     Rather  their  value  is  limited 
to  the  memorizing  of  such  things  as  have  no  logical 


122     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

or  natural  associates,  but  are  disconnected  and  un- 
related, like  lists  of  popes,  kings,  presidents,  etc.  At 
best  they  are  a  crutch  for  memory  to  go  on,  and  as 
Compayr£  somewhere  observes,  "the  memory  is  not 
strengthened  by  everything  that  aids  it."  It  will 
also  be  noticed  that  the  memorizing  of  the  key  is  not 
easy;  that  at  least  is  unassisted  memory;  there  is  no 
key  to  the  key.  Usually  too  the  same  time  devoted 
to  the  thing  itself  that  is  spent  on  the  device  will  yield 
a  successful  issue.  It  would  be  unfortunate  for  any 
mind  to  come  to  rely  upon  a  mechanical  association 
to  keep  it  in  touch  with  its  past,  for  that  past  is  really 
instinct  with  life  and  not  at  all  the  formal  thing  such  a 
mental  carrying  of  it  would  suggest.  And  as  Dr. 
Noah  Porter  adds,  ".  .  .  if  the  mind  tasks  itself  to 
the  special  effort  of  considering  objects  under  these 
artificial  relations,  it  will  give  less  attention  to  those 
which  have  a  direct  and  legitimate  interest  for  itself." 
Finally  it  must  be  said  that  when  facts  to  be  remem- 
bered have  essential  relationships  with  other  facts, 
it  does  positive  violence  both  to  intelligence  and  to 
reality  to  hang  them  by  the  neck  until  dead  upon  such 
a  stiff  framework. 

HOW  to  Let  us  turn  then  to  the  more  vital  and  natural  ways 

Memory.  of  keeping  the  knowledge  of  our  past.  First,  a  good 
memory  goes  back  to  good  health.  The  physiologi- 
cal psychologists  tell  us  that  corresponding  to  our 
Health.  psychical  experiences  are  physical  brain-processes; 
that  every  mental  occurrence  means  the  formation  of 
a  certain  brain-path;  that  when  this  brain-path  is 


Aiding  Memory  123 

retraced  by  nervous  energy,  the  occurrence  is  revived 
in  memory ;  that  the  permanence  of  these  brain-paths 
depends  upon  the  native  retentiveness  of  the  brain; 
and  that  this  native  retentiveness  is  practically  un- 
modifiable  by  practice,  though  advancing  age  notably 
diminishes  it.  Now  whatsoever  quality  of  native 
retentiveness  is  ours  by  birthright  is  diminished  in 
poor  health  and  tends  to  reach  its  upper  limit  of  effec- 
tiveness in  good  health.  We  all  know  how  much 
better  we  can  remember  in  health  than  in  sickness, 
and  how  the  events  of  an  illness  go  from  us.  Thus 
indirectly,  if  not  directly  by  practice,  we  can  avail 
ourselves  of  whatsoever  degree  of  retentiveness  nature 
has  granted  us.  We  despise  our  heritage  of  retentive- 
ness  when  we  solicit  ill-health  by  poor  food,  overwork, 
lack  of  exercise,  bad  air,  improper  clothing,  and 
anxiety.  In  vain  do  we  neglect  physical  demands  and 
expect  mental  returns. 

Second,  avoid  brain  fatigue,  particularly  before  it  Avoid  Brain 
is  to  be  subjected  to  any  trial  of  memory.  In  fatigue 
the  brain  cells  may  shrink  to  half  their  normal  size, 
and  in  this  condition  our  associations  are  fewer  in 
quantity,  poorer  in  quality,  slower  in  revival,  and  in- 
coherent as  related  to  each  other.  Any  one  who  has 
sat  up  half  the  night  preparing  for  an  examination  the 
next  day  will  recognize  this  description.  It  is  as  though 
the  tortoise  had  withdrawn  into  its  shell  and  conse- 
quently is  unable  to  make  connections  with  the  out- 
side world.  Though  avoiding  brain  fatigue,  it  may 
be  observed  that  moderate  intellectual  exercise  keeps 
up  the  tone  of  the  brain  and  is  better  than  disuse  for 


124     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Make  First 

Impressions 

Lasting. 


the  associative  processes.  A  good  memory,  a  good 
working  brain,  not  so  much  demands  infrequent 
long  vacations  as  frequent  short  ones,  of  which  the 
nightly  sleep  is  the  best  evidence  and  illustration. 

Third,  in  teaching  make  the  first  impression  vivid, 
definite,  and  exact.  Only  if  so  made  is  it  likely  to 
be  lasting.  Get  all  curious,  alert,  attentive,  then 
quickly  and  deftly  press  home  the  matter,  to  use  a 
coarse  and  inapplicable  figure,  like  the  seal  of  a  letter 
upon  the  warm  soft  wax.  Unlike  money,  in  memory 
keeping  is  mostly  a  matter  of  getting.  As  Dr.  M. 
Granville  has  said,  "The  natural  and  only  true  basis 
of  memory  is  a  well-founded  impression."  Physio- 
logically expressed,  a  vivid  first  impression  makes 
the  brain  path  more  permanent  and  more  easily 
retraced.  Since  it  is  conjectured  by  Ostwald  that 
nerve  force  is  electricity,  we  may  illustrate  and  mag- 
nify by  saying  the  vivid  first  impression  is  like 
the  lightning  ploughing  a  path  for  itself  down  the 
tree  trunk. 

Fourth,  if  necessary,  deepen  the  impression  by 
repetition.  This  is  like  wearing  out  a  plain  path 
through  a  virgin  meadow  by  much  travel.  Repeti- 
tion, however,  should  not  be  mechanical,  a  mode  of 
unthinking  mental  impression,  but  should  be  an  aid 
to  comprehension,  judicious,  in  new  ways,  at  inter- 
vals, and  increasingly  acquisitive.  Mechanical  repe- 
tition, such  as  is  to  be  heard  aloud,  even  in  concert, 
in  some  Chinese  schools,  is  the  means  to  that  rote 
learning  and  verbal  memory  so  much  deprecated. 
"Memory  should  be  the  cradle  and  not  the  tomb  of 


Aiding  Memory  125 

an  idea,"  and  repetition  should  rather  nourish  than 
destroy  the  young  idea. 

Fifth,  let  memory  follow  understanding.  First 
comprehend,  then  remember.  Not  that  we  are  to 
comprehend  it  all  before  memorizing,  but  that  we  are 
not  to  memorize  what  we  do  not  comprehend  at  all. 
Many  biblical  texts  learned  hi  our  youth  still  have  not 
yielded  up  to  us  all  their  meaning;  then  we  compre- 
hended in  part,  now  more,  but  still  in  part.  The 
point  is,  do  not  compel,  nor  even  allow,  pupils  to 
recite  off  glibly  from  their  tongue's  end  what  has  no 
meaning  for  their  consciousness.  A  busy  little  school- 
girl was  asked  if  she  understood  what  she  was  learning 
so  fast.  "Oh,  no,  sir,"  she  said,  "we  have  so  much 
to  learn  we  don't  have  time  to  understand  it."  Out 
of  the  mouths  of  our  pupils  are  we  condemned  or 
justified ! 

Sixth,  improve  the  habit  of  study.  This  covers  a  improve  the 
great  deal.  In  part  it  goes  back  to  the  point  above,  study.° 
about  first  impressions,  and  in  part  it  introduces  us  to 
some  new  considerations.  In  general  it  would  be  correct 
to  say  that  pupils  (shall  I  limit  the  statement  to  pupils  ?) 
do  not  know  how  to  study.  It  is  a  very  much  larger 
matter  than  improving  memory,  but  a  good  memory 
is  one  of  the  many  beneficent  results  of  a  good  habit 
of  study.  A  good  way  to  master  any  lesson  is  first  to 
read  the  whole  through  carefully,  leisurely,  and  atten- 
tively,—  "one  careful  reading  of  a  lesson  is  worth  a 
dozen  attempts  merely  to  memorize  the  words." 
This  gives  a  good  general  idea  of  the  whole.  Then 
read  again,  analyzing  it  into  its  essential  parts,  with 


126     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

concentrated  attention,  with  leisure  enough  to  let  each 
main  point  sink  deeply  into  consciousness  in  all  its 
bearings,  with  thought  fixed  on  the  ideas  the  words 
express,  and  with  reflection  as  to  the  relation  of 
these  truths  to  practical  life.  Then,  when  done,  close 
the  book,  and  think  it  all  over  in  mind,  ordering 
the  essential  points  in  their  relation  to  each  other,  per- 
haps even  putting  them  on  paper,  until  some  vision 
of  the  unitary  whole  composed  of  its  many  parts  rises 
in  consciousness.  Then  you  have  it.  And  I  trust 
that  what  you  have  has  been  worth  this  method  of 
getting  it.  You  will  agree  that  so  to  get  it  is  to  get  it 
indeed  and  is  not  soon  to  forget  it.  So  we  ought  to 
study  the  things  that  are  worth  our  study  at  all. 
Think !  Seventh,  make  the  pupils  think !  This  cultivates 

a  logical  memory.  To  think  is  to  form  real  associa- 
tions, to  put  things  in  consciousness  where  they  belong, 
to  get  the  thing  as  it  is  in  itself.  All  things  should  be 
taught  and  thought  in  their  relations  to  each  other, 
stressing  particularly  the  similar  and  essential  rela- 
tions. How  happy  a  thing  it  is,  when  matters  cannot 
be  recalled,  to  be  able  to  think  them  out  again.  We 
can  think  them  out  if  we  have  first  thought  them  in. 
Coleridge  has  said  concerning  memory,  "Sound 
logic,  as  the  habitual  subordination  of  the  individual 
to  the  species,  and  of  the  species  to  the  genus:  philo- 
sophical knowledge  of  the  facts  under  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect  .  .  .  these  are  the  best  arts  of  mem- 
ory." We  shall  find  that  the  most  serviceable  rela- 
tionship under  which  thought  can  represent  memor- 
able things  are  those  which  nature  herself  assigns  the 


Aiding  Memory  127 

things,  whether  of  contiguity,  similarity,  cause  and 
effect,  or  part  and  whole.  The  consciousness  whose 
knowledge  is  ordered  as  the  facts  of  nature  themselves 
are  will  have  a  logical  and  dependable  memory. 

Eighth,  it  will  not  be  surprising  after  these  points  indirect 

.       Training. 

on  improving  memory  to  add,  as  yet  another:  tram 
memory,  not  directly,  but  indirectly  through  training 
the  acquiring  and  assimilative  powers  of  the  mind, 
viz.  interest,  attention,  and  intelligent  perception. 
Memory,  like  happiness,  is  reached  best  by  aiming 
at  something  else.  Make  the  lesson  a  real  present 
experience,  leaving  its  recall  to-morrow  to  take  thought 
for  itself.  "The  attitude  of  the  pupil's  mind  should 
be ;  I  must  perceive  this  just  as  it  is  and  in  all  its  bear- 
ings :  not,  I  must  remember  this."  l  Certain  experi- 
ments by  Bieroliet 2  prove  that  the  cooperation  of 
two  or  more  senses  in  fixing  the  images  of  words  to 
be  memorized  produces  much  better  results  than  where 
only  one  is  concerned,  and  that  attention  and  interest 
are  of  more  value  than  mere  repetition  ;  or,  as  old 
Dr.  Johnson  is  said  to  have  remarked,  "Interest  is 
the  mother  of  attention,  attention  is  the  mother  of 
memory:  therefore  to  get  memory,  secure  both  its 
mother  and  its  grandmother." 

This  concludes  what  we  have  to  suggest  on  improv-  incidental 

i  mi  i  .  i  i_      i  Consider- 

ing the  memory.     The  subject  however  is  both  so  au0ns. 

complex  and  so  widely  considered  that  a  great  many 
interesting  and  pertinent  matters  have  grouped  them- 

1  McLellan  and  Dewey,  "Applied  Psychology,"  p.  95. 

1  "Esquisse  d'une  Education  de  la  Memoire/'  Paris,  1903. 


128     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

selves  about  memory  as  a  nucleus.    Some  of  these 

we  may,  with  profit  perhaps,  select  and  briefly  consider. 

The  impor-         And  to  begin  with,  let  us  refer  to  the  importance  of 

tance  of  .  111  ... 

Forgetting,  forgetting.  Not  that  we  should  consciously  aim  to 
improve  our  powers  of  forgetting,  which  would  prob- 
ably end  in  our  remembering  all  the  better  the  things 
we  wanted  to  forget,  but  that  a  certain  amount  of 
forgetting  is  natural  and  good,  and  from  this  fact  we 
should  take  rather  comfort  than  alarm.  It  is  prob- 
ably true  that  the  brain  never  forgets  anything,  it 
registers  all  experiences ;  but  for  many  reasons  the  ma- 
jority of  our  experiences  will  never  live  in  conscious- 
ness again.  The  unimaginable  traces  of  themselves 
they  left  on  the  brain  are  too  slight  ever  to  permit  their 
corresponding  ideas  to  revive  again.  Few  are  the 
things  chosen  by  recall  out  of  the  past,  though  many 
were  the  things  that  went  into  the  composition  of  our 
past.  And  all  this  arrangement  of  nature  is  well. 
We  never  truly  remember  until  we  have  forgotten; 
to  remember  everything  in  just  the  order  it  occurred 
and  to  repeat  it  so  is  to  be  mentally  inefficient;  the 
so-called  redintegrating  type  of  consciousness  is  both 
unlearned  and  untrained.  To  have  forgotten  the 
unessentials  of  the  past,  to  have  kept  its  essentials, 
this  eliminates  waste  and  gives  mental  perspective. 
The  so-called  forgotten  influences  the  background  and 
tone  of  consciousness,  and,  though  the  things  learned 
have  vanished,  the  brain  retains  the  effect  of  once 
having  learned. 

We  may  recognize  how  true  this  is  in  those  feelings 
of  familiarity  which  sometimes  sweep  over  us  in  present 


Aiding  Memory  129 

situations,  as  though  precisely  all  this  has  happened 
before  and  is  now  being  oddly  repeated  as  if  by  mis- 
chance. It  probably  means  only  that  old  brain  paths 
are  being  restimulated  that  were  originally  formed  in 
situations  similar  to  the  present,  the  dissimilarities 
being  beyond  recall,  and  so  permitting  no  discrimi- 
nation to  appear  between  then  and  now.  The  upshot 
of  the  whole  is  that  we  are  really  different  for  every 
experience  of  life,  but  we  are  often  unable  to  specify 
in  what  respect.  The  pupils  who  have  studied  have 
gotten  more  than  they  can  say  in  the  recitation  or 
write  in  the  examination;  likewise  no  teacher  can 
teach  all  he  knows,  and  in  order  to  teach  a  little,  he 
must  know  much. 

The  phrase  "learning  by  heart"  has  considerable  Learning 
currency,  and  probably  has  had  ever  since  the  early 
days  when  books  were  scarce  and  there  were  no  libra- 
ries of  reference.  What  the  phrase  ought  to  mean  is, 
repeating  exactly  what  the  intelligence  has  mastered. 
As  such  it  is  one  of  the  valuable  powers  of  mind.  Too 
frequently,  however,  it  merely  means  the  unthinking 
rattling  off  of  words  by  contiguous  association.  As 
such  the  words  were  gotten  by  mechanical  repetition, 
and  both  the  process  and  the  result  are  bad,  the  mind 
not  supporting  the  senses  in  acquisition,  being  passive 
instead  of  active,  being  impressed  instead  of  growing, 
being  encouraged  to  wander  instead  of  to  concentrate, 
and  ending  by  being  burdened  with  unassimilated  lug- 
gage. Bad  learning  by  heart  is  through  sensation 
without  intelligence ;  good  learning  by  heart  is  through 
sensation  with  intelligence. 


130     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  there  is  a  period 
in  the  pupil's  life,  before  reason  sets  in,  when  he  de- 
lights to  learn  by  heart.  At  this  time,  in  general 
during  the  grammar  school  period,  the  simple  essen- 
tial facts  that  one  ought  to  know  in  our  world  should 
be  memorized.  Professor  Bain1  regards  the  years 
from  six  to  ten  as  those  of  maximum  brain  plasticity. 
During  the  period  characterized  by  the  reign  of 
memory  things  like  dates,  definitions,  verses,  maxims, 
bare  facts,  the  multiplication  table,  etc.,  may  be  ac- 
quired with  a  positive  delight,  which  later  would  be  a 
dreadful  bore.  There  is  a  time  to  remember  and  a 
time  to  cease  from  remembering,  a  time  to  forget 
and  a  time  to  reason. 

storing  the  I  refer  to  the  phrase  "storing  the  memory"  next, 
only  that  I  may  combat  the  literal  acceptance  of  the 
figure  of  speech.  Truly  speaking,  the  memory  is 
not  a  storehouse,  it  is  not  a  chamber  with  pictures 
hung  upon  the  walls;  it  is  a  certain  type  of  mental 
activity.  Pupils  do  not  store  their  memories,  they 
exercise  their  minds  in  getting  and  reproducing.  The 
true  repertory  of  knowledge  learned  in  the  past  is  not 
the  memory,  but  the  brain.  Really  we  do  not  commit 
things  to  memory,  but  to  the  brain.  The  knowledge 
which  we  possess,  but  of  which  we  are  not  thinking, 
is  not  safely  stowed  away  in  a  faculty  of  consciousness 
called  memory,  to  be  delivered  when  called  for,  — 
it  is  represented  by  certain  changes  in  the  structure 
of  our  brain.  And  our  memory  is  not  a  dimly  lighted 
room  in  consciousness,  but  the  present  mental  act  of 

1  Bain,  "Education  as  a  Science,"  p.  186. 


Aiding  Memory  131 

recall  corresponding  to  the  restimulation  of  old  brain 
paths.  What  will  happen  to  our  memory  on  this 
physiological  basis  in  a  life  to  come  is  a  philosophical 
question  as  interesting  to  the  speculatively  inclined  as 
it  is  important  for  all.1 

Pupils  often  want  to  know  of  teachers  if  they  shall  Memorizing 

'  the 

memorize  the  definitions.  The  attitude  of  teachers  Definitions, 
varies  greatly  on  this  point,  in  fact,  from  a  rigorous 
affirmative  to  a  loose  negative.  I  do  not  know  any- 
thing particularly  conclusive  to  write  on  this  subject, 
and  must  simply  add  my  opinion  to  the  others.  In  any 
case  the  meaning  of  the  definition  should  first  be  clearly 
apprehended.  It  is  to  be  supposed  that  the  author  of 
the  text  has  expressed  this  meaning  in  the  most  fitting 
way.  Unfortunately  this  is  not  always  the  case.  For 
example,  in  a  dictionary  itself  of  psychological  terms 
I  find  the  following  definition  of  "association"  (of 
ideas),  a  definition,  too,  in  which  two  reputable  authors 
had  a  hand,  viz.  "A  union  more  or  less  complete 
formed  in  and  by  the  course  of  experience  between  the 
mental  dispositions  corresponding  to  two  or  more  dis- 
tinguishable contents  of  consciousness,  and  of  such  a 
nature  that  when  one  content  recurs,  the  other  content 
tends  in  some  manner  or  degree  to  recur  also."  My 
pupils  in  psychology  are  spared  the  memorizing  of 
that  definition.  Consciousness  should  preserve  the 
meanings  of  definitions  only  in  the  most  fitting  avail- 
able language,  whether  from  the  text  or  the  teacher. 
Yes,  memorize  the  definition  if  you  first  understand 

1  Cf.  Professor  James's  Ingcrsoll  Lecture  on  "Human  Immor- 
tality." 


The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

it  and  it  is  a  good  one.  And  I  should  go  one  step  fur- 
ther and  say,  pupils  should  also  be  encouraged  to 
express  the  meaning  of  the  definitions  in  their  own  best 
way.  Only  one  who  has  himself  attempted  to  define 
poetry  will  fully  appreciate  the  attempt  of  another, 
like  that  of  Stedman.  Let  me  add  that  when  we  pass 
out  of  the  region  of  definitions  into  that  of  reason- 
ing, memorizing  has  no  place.  For  example,  pupils 
should  not  be  permitted  to  prove  their  geometrical 
theorems  by  a  memory  process,  but  only  as  a  series  of 
present  perceptions.  It  is  always  better  to  change 
the  letters  of  the  text. 

In  this  connection  let  me  pay  my  disrespect  to  "  cram- 
ming" as  an  abuse  of  a  rational  memory.  Cramming 
is  the  rapid  gathering  of  information  immediately 
before  it  is  to  be  called  for.  It  means  less  associations 
are  formed  with  the  other  things  in  the  mind,  it  means 
shallow  and  relatively  impermanent  brain  paths,  con- 
sequently the  very  quick  loss  from  memory  of  what 
is  so  acquired,  and  also  it  means  an  inability  to  think 
with  what  is  so  gathered.  We  may  be  able  to  repeat 
it,  we  cannot  apply  it.  The  original  problem  in  the 
examination  upsets  the  mind  that  has  crammed  its 
information.  Better,  far  better,  is  the  regular  term 
preparation  with  its  time  for  reflection,  assimilation, 
and  brain-growth.  We  sometimes  surprise  ourselves 
at  coming  back  to  a  new  piece  of  music  with  greater 
ease  in  it  than  when  leaving  it  last,  because  mean- 
while the  nervous  system  has  grown  in  the  direction 
in  which  it  was  exercised.  Cramming  eliminates  the 
element  of  time  necessary  for  the  growth  of  the  ner- 


Aiding  Memory  133 

vous  system.  Among  the  many  things  pupils  should 
know  in  advance  while  forming  their  habits  of  study 
are  these  facts  about  losing  time  under  the  expecta- 
tion of  making  up  for  it  by  a  rapid  cram  later. 

It  is  very  much  to  the  discredit  of  the  character  of  Examining 

Memory, 
our  written  examinations  that  they  so  strongly  tempt 

pupils  to  cram.  An  examination  should  test  the  judg- 
ment of  pupils  as  well  as  their  memory.  The  half 
at  least  of  every  examination  should  test  what  the 
pupil  can  do,  presupposing  that  he  has  learned, — 
original  problems,  sight  translation,  new  questions, 
anything  to  test  his  efficiency  as  well  as  his  memory. 
As  it  is,  we  sometimes  have  the  spectacle  of  a  pupil 
with  a  consciousness  like  a  parrot  receiving  diplomas 
of  proficiency  from  our  schools  and  even  colleges. 
Only  nature's  rich  gifts,  not  the  character  of  the  exami- 
nations we  set,  save  us  from  many  more  such.  The 
vice  of  examining  memory  instead  of  testing  judg- 
ment has  crept  even  into  the  class-room,  where  our 
teaching  is  too  much  like  an  oral  quiz  on  last  night's 
study  than  the  development  of  ideas  on  the  subject 
treated  by  the  text. 
Many  of  us,  pupils  and  teachers  alike,  are  in  bond-  Note-books 

i        and  Memory. 

age  to  the  note-book.  We  are  so  anxious  to  get  the 
thing  down  that  we  do  not  stop  to  get  it.  To  have 
it  in  our  notes  we  mistakenly  suppose  is  to  have  it. 
Presently  our  shelf  holds  a  big  pile  of  well- filled  note- 
books, and  we  ourselves  are  but  little  the  wiser  for 
having  written  things  down  so  industriously.  Perhaps 
the  note-book  is  here  to  stay  as  a  necessity,  because 
we  seem  unable  to  keep  in  mind  all  we  need.  At 


1 34     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

this  very  moment  I  am  writing  from  notes  my  objec- 
tions to  notes.  But  granted  the  note-book  is  a  perma- 
nent tool  in  our  workshop,  there  is  a  more  excellent 
attitude  toward  it  than  our  habitual  one.  Like  fire, 
a  note-book  is  a  good  servant,  but  a  bad  master.  It 
is  a  bad  master  when  we  are  mentally  content  to  have 
written  the  thing  down;  it  is  a  good  servant  when  we 
write  down  for  actual  future  use  the  thing  we  have 
first  comprehended.  In  listening  to  lectures  or  mak- 
ing reports  on  readings,  it  would  help  us  to  take  down 
only  the  author's  bare  outline,  and  then  fill  in  later 
with  our  own  remembered  account  of  what  was  heard 
or  read.  Only  muscular  skill,  not  mental  improve- 
ment, is  involved  in  being  a  long-hand  stenographer. 
In  a  famous  passage  which  arrested  the  attention  of 
the  Roman  grammarian  Quintilian,  Plato  has  sug- 
gested that  the  very  art  of  writing  is  inimical  to  mem- 
ory, which  we  are  prepared  to  believe  when  we  try 
to  throw  ourselves  back  into  the  period  of  oral  trans- 
mission of  Homer,  even  of  the  catalogue  of  ships. 
Though  long,  I  will  quote  the  passage  itself  as  being 
the  best  comment  on  modem  note-taking.  According 
to  the  story,  probably  made  by  Plato  himself,  the  Egyp- 
tian god  Theuth  was  the  inventor  of  many  arts  which 
he  was  recommending  to  Thamus,  the  king  of  Egypt. 
"But  when  they  came  to  letters,  This,  said  Theuth, 
will  make  the  Egyptians  wiser  and  give  them  better 
memories;  it  is  a  specific  both  for  the  memory  and 
for  the  wit.  Thamus  replied :  O  most  ingenious 
Theuth,  the  parent  or  inventor  of  an  art  is  not  always 
the  best  judge  of  the  utility  or  inutility  of  his  own  in- 


Aiding  Memory  135 

ventions  to  the  users  of  them.  And  in  this  instance, 
you,  who  are  the  father  of  letters,  from  a  paternal  love 
of  your  own  children  have  been  led  to  attribute  to 
them  a  quality  which  they  cannot  have;  for  this  dis- 
covery of  yours  will  create  forgetfulness  in  the  learners' 
souls,  because  they  will  not  use  their  memories:  they 
will  trust  to  the  external  written  characters  and  not 
remember  of  themselves.  The  specific  which  you 
have  discovered  is  an  aid  not  to  memory,  but  to  remi- 
niscence, and  you  give  your  disciples  not  truth,  but  only 
the  semblance  of  truth;  they  will  be  hearers  of  many 
things  and  will  have  learned  nothing :  they  will  appear 
to  be  omniscient  and  will  generally  know  nothing: 
they  will  be  tiresome  company,  having  the  show  of 
wisdom  without  the  reality."  l  Commenting  on  the 
passage,  Professor  Jowett  says,  "Socrates  means  to 
say,  that  what  is  truly  written  is  written  in  the  soul, 
just  as  what  is  truly  taught  grows  up  in  the  soul  from 
within  and  is  not  forced  upon  it  from  without." 

Those  who  have  in  mind  the  result  of  our  inquiry  Memory 
in  chapter  VI  on  formal  discipline  will  not  be  surprised  Memories, 
now  to  read  that  'there  is  no  general  improvement  of 
the  memory  as  a  unitary  faculty ;  there  is  only  particu- 
lar improvement  of  the  memory  as  a  function  in  con- 
nection with  specific  subjects.  We  have  not  a  faculty 
of  memory  equally  good  for  all  matters,  but  a  set  of 
memories  of  unequal  efficiency  for  dissimilar  subjects. 
There  is  an  historian's  memory,  a  mathematician's 
memory,  a  business  man's  memory,  a  housekeeper's 
memory,  a  broker's  memory,  a  train-starter's  memory, 

1  "Phaedrus,"  274  E,  Jowett  Tr ,  third  edition. 


136     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

and  so  on  through  the  list  of  human  occupations. 
Each  one  has  a  certain  mental  scheme  of  remembering 
according  to  his  habitual  occupation.  The  point  is 
that  the  memory  ability  developed  in  one  occupation 
is  not  transferable  to  a  dissimilar  occupation;  the 
athlete's  prodigious  memory  of  records  and  scores  does 
not  enable  him  the  better  to  keep  his  trigonometrical 
formulae.  The  improvement  of  memory  in  one  subject 
does  not  necessarily  improve  it  in  all,  just  as  strength- 
ening one  link  in  a  chain  does  not  strengthen  each 
other  link.  We  must  carefully  limit  the  transfer  of  a 
cultivated  mental  ability  from  one  subject  to  another; 
it  cannot  be  done  when  the  subjects  are  dissimilar; 
it  can  be  done  when  the  subjects  are  similar. 

From  this  latter  fact  we  may  take  courage  in  cultivat- 
ing the  memory,  and  in  our  reaction  from  the  faculty 
psychology  we  must  avoid  a  corresponding  extreme  in 
what  we  might  call  an  atomic  psychology.  The  faculty 
is  no  longer  the  unit :  it  would  be  just  as  great  a  mis- 
take to  say  one  of  the  abilities  of  the  faculty  is  the 
unit.  The  mind  is  the  true  unit;  it  can  do  different 
things  like  perceive,  remember,  conceive,  etc.,  and 
it  has  different  abilities  in  doing  each  thing,  like  re- 
membering, to  accord  with  the  character  of  the  things 
dealt  with  and  its  own  previous  experience  in  that 
field.  When  any  two  fields  are  similar,  an  ability  is 
better  in  the  second  for  having  been  practised  in  the 
first.  For  the  application  of  this  principle  in  matters 
of  memory  let  me  refer  to  the  position  of  Professor 
Stout,1  and  quote  his  conclusion:  "Just  in  so  far  as 
1  Stout,  "Manual  of  Psychology,"  pp.  442-446. 


Aiding  Memory  137 

this  interpenetration  of  mental  dispositions  exists,  the 
exercise  of  the  memory  for  certain  experiences  will 
improve  the  memory  for  analogous  experiences.  When 
a  man  has  made  a  certain  amount  of  progress  in  the 
learning  of  a  foreign  language,  further  progress  is 
facilitated,  just  because  he  has  become  familiar  with 
certain  general  characteristics  of  the  language,  which 
do  not  need  to  be  learnt  over  again  for  every  particu- 
lar case.  Of  course  it  does  not  follow  that  memory 
in  general  is  improved  by  its  exercise  hi  this  or  that 
particular  direction.  The  progress  will  only  extend 
to  analogous  experiences  hi  precise  proportion  to  the 
degree  of  the  analogy.  Exercise  of  the  memory  in 
the  study  of  languages  will  do  little  to  improve  it  for 
the  retention  of  chemical  formulae." 

The  subject  of  memory  has  sufficiently  engaged  us.  Memory  and 

.  .      .,.  the  Fruits  of 

As  we  leave  it,  realizing  keenly  its  significance  and  Education, 
importance,  it  remains  only  to  remark  that  memory 
is  not  the  final  nor  the  finest  fruit  of  education.  We 
keep  habits  better  than  deeds  in  mind;  we  remember 
classes  better  than  we  recollect  individuals;  the  re- 
sults of  education  in  the  form  of  specific  knowledge 
pass  early  from  us ;  the  contents  of  our  school  texts 
mostly  escape  us  with  years.  All  this  shows  that 
education  really  gives  the  mind  a  more  efficient  way 
of  acting  in  the  present  situation  than  a  possession  to 
keep  from  out  the  past ;  education  gives  mental  method 
rather  than  mental  content,  though  it  gives  mental 
content  too.  The  practicable  thing  with  the  human 
type  of  mind  is  not  to  know  all  facts,  but  to  know 


138     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

when  and  how  to  observe  them,  the  books  that  treat 
of  them,  and  the  living  men  to  consult  about  them. 
Our  education  consists,  not  in  what  we  can  recollect 
of  the  information  gathered  in  our  school  days,  but  hi 
our  sense  of  familiarity  with  the  world's  best,  in  a 
certain  efficient  method  in  attaining  it,  and  hi  the 
stimulus  to  continuous  advancement  throughout  life. 
Education  is  rather  the  freeing  of  personal  force,  the 
liberation  of  the  self,  that  it  may  live  and  work  in  full 
relationship  with  men  and  things.  Thus  the  memory 
is  not  the  goal  of  the  teaching  process,  it  is  one  of  the 
moments  of  conscious  development.  Out  from  it  we 
must  pass  into  the  region  of  imagination,  judgment, 
reasoning,  feeling,  and  action. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Elementary  and  Secondary  Memory. 

2.  The  Physiological  Explanation  of  Memory. 

3.  The  Conditions  of  a  Good  Memory. 

4.  Distinctions   between    Memory,   Recollection,    Imagination, 

and  Recognition. 

REFERENCES  ON  MEMORY 

Aiken,  Methods  of  Mind  Training,  ch.  III. 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  22-35. 

Baldwin,   Mental   Development,    Methods  and   Processes,  pp 

279-307. 

Com  pay  re.  Psychology  Applied,  etc.,  ch.  V. 
Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  VIII. 
Harris,  Psychologic  Foundations  of  Education,  ch.  XXIV. 
James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  ch.  XII. 
Kay,  Memory,  ch.  IX. 
Morgan,  Psychology  for  Teachers,  ch.  IL 
Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  Book  IV,  ch.  III. 


Aiding  Memory  139 

Sully,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  ch.  VII. 

For  an  estimation  of  Mnemonics,  cf.  James  Mill,  Analysis  of  the 
Human  Mind,  pp.  324-325;  Dugald  Stewart,  Elements  of 
the  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind,  ch.  VI,  §  7. 


CHAPTER  XI 


The 

Educational 
Neglect  of 
the  Imag- 
ination. 


EDUCATING  THE  IMAGINATION 

THE  imagination  is  one  of  the  rather  neglected  men- 
tal powers  in  modem  schools.  This  neglect  of  the 
imagination  is  of  a  piece  with  the  general  poor  estate 
of  aesthetic  education.  The  school  life,  particularly 
including  the  college,  is  too  inhospitable  to  works  of 
the  imagination.  The  cultivation  of  the  imagination 
is  not  emphasized  by  that  education  whose  standard 
is  fixed  by  the  market-place.  Modern  education  is 
tempted  all  along  the  line  to  conform  to  standards 
set  by  commerce  and  utility;  in  some  cases  it  has 
openly  yielded  to  the  temptation  and  established  schools 
for  business.  This  latter  is  more  than  justifiable,  for 
trade  schools  are  both  needed  and  in  the  open.  The 
really  dangerous  thing  is  the  way  the  trade  spirit  is 
insinuating  itself  into  all  educational  effort.  Of  this 
"marketable  ideal"  of  education  in  its  attitude  toward 
pupils,  Professor  Van  Dyke  observes,  "Their  imagi- 
nation, that  most  potent  factor  of  life,  is  intrusted  to 
the  guidance  of  the  weekly  story- paper,  and  their  moral 
nature  to  the  guidance  of  chance." *  If  we  look  among 
our  own  pupils  for  an  imagination  other  than  the  growth 
of  nature  prompts,  we  shall  probably  agree  with  Lloyd 

1  Henry  van  Dyke,  "Creative  Education,"  in  "Essays  in  Applica- 
tion," p.  223. 

140 


Educating  the  Imagination  141 

Morgan  that  "the  many  do  not  cultivate  their  imagi- 
native faculty." 

Apart  from  the  influence  of  utilitarian  standards,  The  Little 
and  closer  to  the  subject,  there  is  the  little  value  which  by  it 
teachers  themselves  are  accustomed  to  attach  to  the 
child's  feats  of  imagination.  When  the  stories  of  the 
child's  fancy  come  to  the  teacher's  notice,  they  seem 
rather  to  need  curtailment  than  enlargement.  Such 
exaggerations  often  appeal  to  teachers  as  having  in 
them  an  immoral  element  of  prevarication.  Conse- 
quently a  frequent  attitude  of  teachers  is,  the  imagina- 
tion of  children  is  something  to  be  restrained,  not 
developed.  At  this  point  it  is  necessary  to  remember 
the  principle  of  modern  education,  not  by  repression, 
nor  even  by  impression,  but  by  expression;  or,  that 
older  word  of  Mme.  Necker,  "we  only  restrain  the 
imagination  when  we  exercise  it."  As  the  commercial 
patron  of  the  school  needs  to  learn  the  values  other 
than  financial,  so  the  teacher  needs  to  learn  that  the 
imagination  of  children  may  be  the  wings  whereby 
we  rise  instead  of  the  burden  that  weighs  us  down. 

In  contrast  with  both  these  attitudes,  let  us  main-  Theimpor- 

,,....  -  tance  of 

tain  that  the  imagination  is  really  one  of  the  most  imagination, 
important  of  human  gifts,  and  so  most  deserving  of 
educational  care.  The  imagination  is  both  a  pleasure 
and  a  benefit  to  all  classes  of  men.  By  its  aid  poetry 
is  written,  music  is  composed,  pictures  are  painted, 
statuary  is  carved,  and  architectural  piles  are  planned. 
Here  are  the  pleasures  and,  indeed,  the  best  benefits 
of  man,  as  the  soul  is  of  more  value  than  the  body. 
But  it  is  also  true,  and  this  the  educational  utilitarian 


142     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

seems  to  miss,  that  by  its  aid  the  tradesman  anticipates 
fashions,  the  farmer  forecasts  his  harvest,  the  miner 
digs  for  gold,  the  diver  seeks  for  pearls,  the  explorer 
pushes  into  an  unmapped  continent,  the  discoverer 
finds  a  new  world,  and  the  man  of  science  fixes  the 
place  of  our  planet  in  the  universe  of  space.  By  its 
aid,  too,  religion  has  conceived  another  world  than 
the  sense  world,  and  boldly  declares  that  the  unseen 
is  the  eternal,  and  that  God  is  invisible. 

To  all  classes  of  men  imagination  is  both  a  joy  and 
a  help,  whether  artists,  scientists,  religionists,  or  utili- 
tarians. For  the  mathematicians  D'Alembert  has 
spoken,  "The  truth  is,  to  the  geometer  who  invents, 
imagination  is  not  less  essential  than  to  the  poet  who 
creates."  The  psychological  explanation  of  this  im- 
portance of  imagination  is  the  very  large  place  that 
imagery  occupies  hi  all  consciousness.  As  Professor 
Royce  has  it :  "  The  sensory  experience  and  the  imagery 
of  any  moment,  when  taken  together  with  the  state 
of  feeling  of  that  moment,  constitute  the  mental  ma- 
terial of  the  moment;  and  that,  too,  whether  we  are 
thinking  of  the  loftiest  or  of  the  most  trivial  matters. 
The  cultivation  of  the  right  mental  imagery  conse- 
quently constitutes  a  very  important  aspect  of  mental 
training."  1 

stages  of  One  of  the  first  things  for  the  teacher  to  do  in  cul- 

mentoTthe     tivating  right  mental  imagery  is   to  understand   the 
imagination,  imagination  of  pupils,  to  get  adjusted  to  the  imagina- 
tive outlook  that  characterizes  his  pupils,  to  be  able 

1  Royce,  "  Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  158. 


Educating  the  Imagination  143 

to  recognize  the  stages  in  the  development  of  the  imag- 
ination. In  general  these  stages  are  three,  corre- 
sponding crudely  to  childhood,  youth,  and  manhood. 
The  imagination  of  childhood  may  be  characterized  Childhood, 
as  exuberant;  it  draws  little  or  no  distinction  between 
fact  and  fancy,  its  exaggerations  are  not  falsehoods,  and 
its  wonderful  creations  appear  thoroughly  real  to  con- 
sciousness. It  is  the  great  period  for  fairy  stories, 
Santa  Claus,  epics,  stories  of  the  martyrs,  and  the  like. 

The  imagination  of  youth  may  be  characterized  Youth- 
as  idealizing.  The  distinction  is  drawn  between  ap- 
pearance and  reality,  but  the  future  and  unknown 
reality  is  painted  in  roseate  colors.  The  actual  ex- 
periences of  life  are  lifted  up  into  the  region  of  ideali- 
zation, and  the  large  generous  ideals  of  human  nature 
are  seeking  realization  in  life.  It  is  the  period  of  the 
hero,  of  romance  and  adventure,  of  fiction  and  good 
history. 

The  imagination  of  man  may  be  characterized  as  Manhood 
disciplined.  Reality  has  assumed  a  more  sombre 
hue,  the  vision  once  so  moving  has  become  familiar, 
the  light  of  common  day  is  over  all.  The  man  travels 
more  patiently  toward  his  great  and  remote  goal. 
It  is  the  period  of  the  artist,  the  prophet,  the  poet, 
the  inventor,  the  discoverer,  and  the  captains  of  finance 
and  industry.  The  child's  wonder-book,  the  youth's 
dreams,  the  man's  purposes,  —  these  mark  the  natural 
development  of  the  imagination.  To  child  and  youth 
the  teacher  supplies  that  stimulus  to  the  imagination 
which  shall  connect  the  labor  of  the  man  with  the 
larger  interests  of  our  world. 


144     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 
The  Types  of       Another   thing   for   the   teacher   to   make   his   own 

Imagination.       .  .          . 

about  the  imagination  is  that  his  pupils  vary  charac- 
teristically among  themselves  as  to  what  sense-organ 
furnishes  the  basis  for  their  mental  images.  To 
some  it  is  the  eye,  to  others  the  ear,  to  others  the 
muscles,  to  others  the  sense  of  touch,  and  to  a  few  per- 
haps it  is  still  another  sense-organ.  Hence  arises 
what  the  psychologist  calls  "the  types  of  imagination," 
the  visual,  the  audile,  the  motor,  and  the  tactile  being 
the  four  most  common.  In  the  upper  grades  and  the 
secondary  school  some  special  sense  becomes  increas- 
ingly serviceable  to  each  pupil  as  giving  the  cue  to 
his  images  of  absent  objects.  His  attention,  in  the 
words  of  Baldwin,  "is  best,  most  facile,  most  interest- 
carrying  for  some  one  preferred  sense,  leading  for 
this  sense  into  preoccupation  and  ready  distraction." 
The  Visual  A  word  of  description  about  each  of  the  more  prom- 
inent types  of  imagination  will  put  the  situation  con- 
cretely before  us.  Perhaps  half  our  children  are  vis- 
ualizers  or  eye-minded.  Probably  the  reason  of  this 
large  fraction  is  to  be  sought  in  the  social  importance 
attaching  to  sight,  also  in  our  largely  visual  method 
of  instruction.  These  children  are  those  who  remem- 
ber things  seen  better  than  things  gotten  through 
any  other  sense;  they  learn  preferably  from  copies, 
illustrations,  drawings,  and  pictures;  they  keep  things 
they  read  themselves  better  than  things  read  aloud 
to  them ;  the  past  literally  unrolls  itself  before  the  eye 
of  the  mind;  the  future  is  mentally  seen  as  in  a  pano- 
rama. As  children  and  youth  our  visual  imagination 
is  better  than  in  maturity,  due  to  our  decreasing  in- 


Educating  the  Imagination  145 

terest  in  individual  specimens  and  our  increasing 
interest  in  general  types  as  we  become  older.  Gallon 
discovered  that  the  visual  imagination  of  American 
students  was  better  than  that  of  English  men  of  science. 
Women  are  better  visualizers  than  men.  Some  of  the 
first  characters  in  human  history  have  entertained 
visions,  Joan  of  Arc  for  one. 
Next  in  number  to  the  visualizers  come  the  "audiles."  T 

Type. 

These  are  the  ear-minded  pupils.  As  they  remember 
they  seem  to  hear  again  the  sounds  accompanying  the 
original  experience ;  the  voices  of  their  friends  sound 
in  their  ears,  the  past  speaks  to  them  its  messages, 
they  learn  better  what  they  hear  than  what  they  read, 
duty  seems  to  call  to  them,  and  the  cry  for  help  reaches 
their  ears  from  afar.  Socrates  must  be  written  with 
the  great  ones  of  this  list. 

Then  there  are  "the  motiles."  These  are  the  mus-  The  Motor 
cular-minded  pupils.  They  can  never  get  a  thing 
until  they  have  done  it  themselves ;  their  thoughts  of 
the  past  take  the  shape  of  images,  some  say  sensations, 
of  movement ;  to  think  the  word  is  to  utter  it ;  to  image 
the  action  is  to  begin  to  do  it.  Their  bodies  are  all 
the  while  in  a  state  of  muscular  reverberation  to  what 
is  passing  through  consciousness.  The  spoken  word 
is  an  auditory-muscular  combination,  and  into  this 
verbal  type  of  imagination  all  the  other  types  tend  with 
habitual  repetition  to  pass. 

Last  of  the  types  sufficiently  pronounced  to  receive  The  Tactile 
special  mention  is  "the  tactiles."    These  are  the  touch- 
minded  pupils,   whose  hands  are  their  great  instru- 
ment of  knowledge  and  whose  images  take  the  form 


146     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

of  things  felt.  The  deaf-blind  mutes  are  perforce 
largely  of  the  tactile  type  of  imagination,  with  which 
the  muscular  may  combine.  Laura  Bridgman  and 
Helen  Keller  are  the  classic  illustrations  of  how  cul- 
ture may  be  communicated  to  the  mind  through  the 
hand  and  show  no  sign  in  its  quality  of  its  unusual 
origin.  The  eye  cannot  say  to  the  hand,  "I  am  better 
than  thou." 
General  jn  summarizing  our  account  of  the  types  of  the 

Facts  about  J  r 

the  Types.  imagination  it  is  to  be  observed  that  each  normal 
individual  belongs  to  some  extent  to  all  the  types,  tends 
indeed  to  image  anything  in  terms  of  its  dominant 
quality,  whatsoever  be  the  sense  to  which  that  domi- 
nant quality  appeals.  To  all  the  image  of  a  bell  is 
somewhat  auditory,  of  a  portrait  somewhat  visual, 
of  the  sea  somewhat  muscular,  of  velvet  somewhat 
tactile,  of  an  apothecary  shop  somewhat  olfactory,  etc. 
But  it  is  also  true  that  each  individual  tends  increas- 
ingly to  conform  to  one  or  two  of  the  main  types. 
And  further  it  is  true  that  any  one  type  may  be  cul- 
tivated through  attention  and  practice. 

The  use  of         Now  the  practical  question  arises  as  to  what  use 

the  Types  in  ,  .          .        . 

Educating,  can  be  made  of  these  types  of  imagination  among  our 
pupils  in  educating  them.  The  first  thing  to  observe 
is  that  the  types  are  perhaps  congenital  in  origin. 
This  means  that  we  as  teachers  can  train,  but  hardly 
change,  the  types  that  nature  has  given  us  and  our 
pupils.  Those  whose  consciousness  nature  intended 
to  entertain  auditory  images  cannot  under  our  effort 
become  visualizers,  and  those  whom  nature  intended 


Educating  the  Imagination  147 

to  get  things  through  their  hands  and  muscles  cannot 
by  us  satisfactorily  acquire  through  the  hearing  of  the 
ear.  What  is  here  true  of  the  types  of  images  in  par- 
ticular is  also  true  of  all  inherited  capacities,  —  edu- 
cation can  neither  add  to  nor  subtract  from  them, 
but  only  bring  them  to  the  front. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  we  discover  the  type  or 
types  of  our  individual  pupils,  and  appeal  to  each 
separately  according  to  his  natural  gift.  This  sounds 
attractive,  but  in  practice  it  would  probably  turn  out 
specious.  In  view  of  the  number  of  pupils  that  face 
the  average  teacher,  in  view  also  of  the  educational 
demand  that  pupils  be  developed  on  their  weak  as 
well  as  strong  sides,  this  suggestion  is  hardly  practi- 
cable. But  in  view  of  the  types  of  imagination  pres-  Appeal  to  ail 

,  the  Senses. 

ent  before  us  in  any  class,  the  demand  is  all  the  more 
insistent  upon  us  that  we  appeal  to  all  the  senses  of 
all,  if  by  any  means  we  may  reach  some. 
It  is  fundamental  to  note  that  all  imagining  presup-   i°»ag«>*tion 

presupposes 

poses  sensing.  A  man  born  blind  has  no  images  of  Sensation 
sight,  one  born  deaf  no  images  of  sound,  or  one  born 
with  senses  intact  which,  however,  have  never  been 
really  opened  to  the  messages  of  the  world  has  a  defi- 
cient imagination.  The  more  sensations  children  at- 
tentively receive,  the  more  different  senses  are  brought 
into  play,  the  richer  and  broader  will  be  the  developed 
imagination.  The  imagery  of  to-day  is  the  effect  of 
the  sensory  experience  of  yesterday. 

Train  the  imagination  too  by  action.    The  mus-  w"1  Action, 
cular  or  motile  element  is  a  part  of  the  images  of  such 
objects  as  knife,  pen,  dictionary,  clouds,  curling  smoke, 


148     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Bring  out  the 
Characteris- 
tic Quality. 


The  Use  of 

Certain 

Subjects. 


flying  bird,  marching,  dancing,  singing,  etc.  Exer- 
cise the  motor  side  of  the  nervous  system.  The  imag- 
ination will  be  stimulated  by  acting  out  the  history 
or  reading  scenes,  by  dramatic  entertainments,  by 
vivacious  story-telling,  by  play  and  games,  and  by 
all  kinds  of  constructions  with  blocks,  sand,  wood, 
and  metal.  To  do  something  is  not  only  to  stimulate, 
but  also  to  ballast,  the  imagination. 

Since  we  tend  to  imagine  a  thing  in  terms  of  its 
characteristic  quality,  teaching  should  bring  to  the 
fore  the  characteristic  qualities  of  things,  as  the  roar 
of  Niagara,  the  vision  of  Mt.  Blanc,  the  surge  of  the 
sea,  the  smoothness  of  the  marble  statue  "finished  to 
the  nail,"  the  level  extent  of  the  prairie,  etc.  Make  it 
easy  for  the  imagination  to  grip  the  essential  quality 
of  the  things  taught,  and  some  kind  of  image  of  the 
thing  taught  should  be  gotten  by  every  child's  mind. 

Certain  subjects  are  particularly  serviceable  in  train- 
ing imagery.  Stories  may  be  illustrated  by  the  pupil's 
own  drawing;  reading  should  be  accompanied  with 
inward  vision;  exclusive  reading  of  illustrated  papers 
and  magazines  should  be  avoided  as  giving  the  imag- 
ination nothing  to  do;  the  descriptions  of  natural 
scenes  in  fiction  should  not  be  skipped  in  reading; 
the  operations  in  arithmetic  should  be  inwardly  imaged ; 
the  essential  features  of  a  continent  in  geography  the 
same;  the  scenes  of  past  history  should  be  re-lived  in 
the  imagination ;  the  drawing  courses  make  for  clearer 
images1  and  so  for  clearer  thinking;  and  for  the  muscle- 

1  A  little  fellow  very  busily  engaged  was  asked  by  his  teacher  what 
he  was  drawing.  "  A  picture  of  the  Lord,"  he  said.  Remonstratingly 


Educating  the   Imagination  149 

minded  boys  and  girls  manual  training  and  domestic 
science  are  indispensable.  Unfortunate  indeed  is  that 
prosaic  mind  to  which  facts  are  facts  and  nothing 
more,  words  are  just  words  with  no  image  to  enlighten 
their  dull  look,  to  which  Tennyson's  lines  convey  an 
idea,  but  not  a  vision,  as  he  writes — 

And  Morn 

Has  lifted  the  dark  eyelash  of  the  Night 
From  off  the  rosy  cheek  of  waking  Day. 

The  images  that  possess  consciousness  may  be  of  The  TWO 

„       Kinds  of 

things  that  actually  exist,  events  that  have  actually  imagination, 
occurred,  or  they  may  be  of  non-actual,  ideal,  con- 
structed things,  events,  and  scenes.  We  may  image 
men,  women,  and  animals  that  have  been  seen,  or 
centaurs,  satyrs,  griffins,  and  mermaids  that  have  not 
been  seen.  The  musical  composer  may  image  an  old 
piece  or  a  piece  as  yet  unwritten.  Thus  are  illustrated 
the  two  kinds  of  imagination,  the  reproductive  and  the 
productive.  The  reproductive  imagination  fills  con- 
sciousness with  images  of  past  experiences.  The 
productive  imagination  combines  past  experiences  in 
new  forms ;  it  can  create,  not  de  novo,  but  only  by  order- 
ing existent  elements  in  new  ways.  What  separates 
the  genius  in  art,  invention,  science,  or  religion  from 
the  plain  man  is  his  ability  to  order  experience  in  non- 
habitual  fashion.  As  reproductive  imagination  is  so 
closely  allied  to  memory,  already  discussed,  we  will 

the  teacher  said,  "I  wouldn't  draw  a  picture  of  the  Lord,  I  don't 
think  we  know  how  He  looks."  "Well,  you  will  know  when  I  get 
through  drawing  this  picture,"  was  the  confident  reply. 


150     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

at  once  pass  to  the  difficult  yet  inviting  subject  of  train- 
ing the  productive  imagination. 

Training  the       Before  the  threshold  of  the  subject  a  caution  must 

Productive        .          .  _  ,  ... 

imagination,  De  given.  Genius  is  one  of  nature  s  gifts,  not  a  school- 
master's effect.  The  artist  and  inventor,  the  poet  and 
discoverer,  these  are  nature's  work,  not  ours.  They 
are  born,  not  made.  But  being  born  they  must  be 
nurtured,  and  here  is  our  function:  not  to  create 
genius,  but  to  develop  it,  not  to  make  small  minds 
great,  but  to  permit  greatness  to  come  into  its  own. 

Genius  in  the       This,  then,  is  our  first  word.     Let  me  remember 

Schoolroom.  .  ... 

that  some  genius,  some  mute  inglorious  Milton, 
may  be  here  before  me.  Expecting  him,  I  shall  soon 
or  late  find  him,  and  when  I  have  found  him,  mine 
it  is  to  discover  him  to  himself,  to  direct  him  aright, 
to  give  him  room.  Give  place  to  the  free  activity 
of  endowed  youth.  In  his  behalf  work  a  miracle  of 
intervention  in  the  grinding  mechanism  of  the  school. 
The  great  grow,  they  are  not  moulded.  In  its  refusal 
to  adjust  itself  to  embryonic  greatness,  the  school  has 
lost  to  itself  many  a  master  mind  that  afterwards  rises 
up  to  condemn  it.  Some  of  the  greatest  constructive 
intellects  in  England  and  America,  hi  philosophy, 
science,  and  statesmanship,  are  not  products  of  the 
schools.  Not  many  teachers  have  the  fortune  of  Saul 
in  finding  a  kingdom  while  looking  for  asses.  It  is 
said  that  an  old  German  teacher  named  Trebonius 
was  accustomed  to  greet  his  little  company  of  pupils 
with  a  bare  head  and  a  reverent  bow :  one  of  the  boys 
before  him  was  little  Martin  Luther. 


Educating  the  Imagination  151 

It  helps  the  productive  imagination  when  we  are 
able  to  secure  the  appreciation  of  studies.  Like  is 
nourished  by  like.  Whatever  the  imagination  has 
produced,  the  imagination  should  enjoy.  It  is  possible 
to  describe  a  tear  as  NaCl  4-  H2O;  moreover  such 
description  has  the  advantage  of  being  valid  for  all 
tears;  it  also  is  a  very  teachable  formula;  but  the 
appreciation  of  a  tear  means  both  emotion  and  im- 
agination. In  literature  we  need,  perhaps,  not  less 
scanning  and  spelling  and  parsing  and  etymologizing, 
but  more  enjoyment  and  feeling  and  imaginative  in- 
terpretation. The  ideas  in  poetry  are,  of  course,  to  be 
comprehended,  even  repeated  perchance,  but  not  to 
the  neglect  of  rhythm,  metre,  reading  aloud,  expres- 
sion, visual  and  auditory  and  even  muscular  images, 
and  beauty.  Our  vocal  music,  again,  makes  thoughts 
primary,  whereas  harmony,  melody,  time,  phrasing, 
and  what  Mozart  described  as  the  best  part  of  music, 
"feeling  it  all  at  once,"  should  have  no  secondary  place. 
Even  in  the  courses  in  science,  where  observation  would 
seem  to  exclude  imagination,  the  world  is  as  truly 
wonderful  and  to  be  loved  as  it  is  factual  and  to  be 
understood.  And  dry  old  mathematics,  as  so  many 
regard  it,  is  really  replete  with  a  marvellous  symbol- 
ism all  its  own,  capable,  as  Plato  showed,  of  giving 
wings  to  consciousness  whereby  it  rises  above  the  par- 
ticulars of  sense.  As  for  history  and  the  ancient  lan- 
guages, it  is  only  the  imagination  that  can  bring  those 
remote  periods  near  and  make  heroes  real. 

Tom  Dixon  relates  that  when  one  of  his  boys  finished 
his  Caesar,  his  mother  asked  him, 


152     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

"'Do  you  think  you  would  know  Julius  Caesar  now 
if  you  met  him?' 

"A  look  of  savage  hate  wrinkled  his  brow  as  he 
slowly  replied :  — 

" '  I'm  not  sure.  But  I'll  tell  you  one  thing,  if  I 
should  happen  to  meet  him,  nobody  else  would  ever 
know  him ! ' ' 

It  is  safe  to  say  this  boy  neither  came,  nor  saw, 
nor  conquered  with  Caesar.  The  life  of  any  past  is  a 
present  possession  only  as  the  imagination  enkindles  it. 
Exercise  the  The  producing  powers  of  consciousness  need  more 
Powers.  exercise  in  school-life,  and  the.  reproducing  powers 
less.  Encourage  story-inventions,  permit  personal 
creations  in  drawing  and  manual  training,  get  up  a 
sentiment  in  favor  of  writing  verse,  have  English  themes 
written  only  on  subjects  about  which  pupils  know 
something  personally  and  in  which  they  have  some 
interest,  imitate  the  best  literary  models  hi  writing 
compositions,  have  a  school  paper,  plant  a  school 
garden,  make  a  school  exhibit,  etc.  Pupils  find 
themselves,  not  only  in  facts,  but  also  in  acts. 
Begin  Young.  And  begin  young.  It  is  said  that  the  great  musi- 
cians come  from  the  country  of  cradle  songs.  The 
story  is  the  perennial  teacher  of  children  in  home  and 
school,  even  to  the  hundredth  repetition.  The  imagina- 
tion of  children  should  grow  by  feeding  upon  the  great, 
simple,  natural,  and  attractive  wonders,  like  fairies, 
elves,  animals,  heroes,  and  gods,  and  it  should  be  care- 
fully protected  from  all  grewsome  things,  like  hob- 
goblins, witches,  evil  spirits,  and  creatures  of  the 
dark.  In  the  dark  these  frightful  objects  of  the  imagi- 


Educating  the  Imagination  153 

nation  are  real  to  the  child,  the  eye  not  being  able  to 
contradict  the  mind's  image.  Even  we  feel  better  in 
a  dark  room  after  we  have  found  the  electric  button. 
The  modern  civilization  has  been  at  great  pains  to 
banish  fear,  and  the  modern  child  has  the  right  not  to 
be  made  afraid. 

Of  all  things  avoid  an  indulged  and  disordered  imagi-   Avoid  a 

Disordered 

nation,  such  as  that  given  by  the  excessive  reading  imagination. 
of  cheap  literature.  Our  girls  had  better  a  hundred 
times  be  relieving  a  case  of  distress  around  the  corner 
than  sobbing  over  the  sad  fortunes  of  fictitious  heroines. 
Active  work  tempers  the  imagination  to  true  ends. 
Labor  gives  us  the  sense  of  reality,  keeps  alive  our  sense 
of  truth,  and  turns  the  imagination  into  profitable 
channels. 

And  in  this  matter  of  awakening  imagination,  a  Theimagi- 
great  thing  is  to  be  imaginative  ourselves.  Why  not  Teacher, 
let  the  lights  of  fancy  play  across  the  schoolroom? 
No  mechanical  prescription  will  avail,  no  set  time  in 
the  schedule  can  be  dedicated  successfully  to  the 
imagination;  rather  its  unannounced  visits  must  be 
welcome  at  any  moment.  Happy  indeed  is  the  lot  of 
the  pupils  who  sit  at  the  feet  of  an  imaginative  teacher, 
and  thrice  happy  that  teacher  who  discovers  an  imagi- 
nation to  itself.  His  service  to  the  world  is  none  the 
less  because  it  is  at  one  remove,  and  it  is  right  that 
his  heart  should  secretly  glow  at  the  thought  that 
through  him  one  hand  received  its  cunning,  one  ear 
heard  the  music  of  the  spheres,  or  one  eye  saw  the  light 
that  never  was  on  land  or  sea.  There  is  an  old  Gre- 
cian story  that  I  have  all  but  forgotten,  and  cannot 


1 54     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

now  locate,  to  the  effect  that  the  great  ones  of  a  certain 
place  were  once  presenting  themselves  before  Zeus, 
that  the  greatest  should  be  crowned.  In  the  company 
that  had  assembled  to  witness  the  honor  bestowed, 
their  teacher  was  also  present,  following  up  with 
interest  the  fortunes  of  his  pupils.  To  the  surprise 
of  all,  and  most  to  himself,  who  was  not  a  candidate 
for  the  honor,  Zeus  announced,  "Crown  the  faithful 
teacher;  he  is  greatest  of  all,  for  he  made  them  all 
great." 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Nature  of  Reproductive  Imagination. 

2.  The  Nature  of  Productive  Imagination. 

3.  The  Physiological  Explanation  of  each  Kind  of  Imagination. 

4.  The  Influence  of  Imaginative  Literature  upon  Pupils. 

REFERENCES  ON  IMAGINATION 

Calkins,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  ch.  XV. 

Compayre',  Psychology  applied  to  Education,  ch.  V. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  IX. 

Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  pp.  250-268. 

McCosh,  The  Cognitive  Powers,  pp.  184-195. 

Morgan,  Psychology  for  Teachers,  ch.  DC. 

Oppenheim,  Mental  Growth  and  Control,  ch.  IX. 

Rosmini,  Method  in  Education,  pp.  334  and  ff.     (Tr.  Grey.) 

Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  148-161. 

Sully,  The  Teachers'  Handbook  of  Psychology,  ch.  XI. 

Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  pp.  43-50. 

Van  Dyke,  "  Creative  Education,"  in  Essays  in  Application. 


CHAPTER    XII 

STIMULATING   THE   MIND   TO   CONCEIVE 

A  FEW  words  first  concerning  the  nature  of  concep-  T06  Nature 

of  Con- 

tion.     Perhaps  this  nature  may  be  most  clearly  recog-  ception. 

nized  if  we  contrast  conception  with  perception.    To 

see  and  recognize  John  Smith  on  the  street  is  to  have 

a  perception,  to  think  man  is  to  have  a  conception;  Contrast  with 

,          .  •'*         .  .  Perception. 

to  see  a  bay  horse  passing  is  to  have  a  perception,  to 
think  animal  is  to  have  a  conception ;  to  recognize  it 
to  be  my  duty  hi  the  present  crisis  to  speak  the  truth 
is  an  act  of  inner  perception,  to  think  the  notion  duty 
is  to  have  a  conception.  Without  further  illustration 
we  may  state  this  contrast  in  the  following  fashion: 
perception  is  the  knowledge  of  individual  objects, 
conception  is  the  knowledge  of  general  objects;  per- 
ception gives  immediate  experience,  conception  gives 
mediate  or  generalized  experience ;  and  further  it  may 
be  said  that  perception  gives  mental  growth,  while 
conception  gives  mental  development ;  that  is,  through 
perception  we  add  to  our  store,  and  through  concep- 
tion we  come  to  think  of  it  in  new  ways. 

To  conceive  of  anything  is  thus  to  think  it.     And   Definition  of 

,  .,,,,.•  111  Conception. 

of  any  namable  or  descnbable  thing  it  would  be  cor- 
rect to  maintain  that  it  is  conceivable.  In  a  psycho- 
logical sense  of  the  term  the  word  for  which  we  shall 
have  very  little  use  is  inconceivable.  People  use  it 


156     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

popularly,  not  in  its  strict  sense  of  unthinkable,  but  to 
mean  incredible  or  unimaginable.  Because  to  conceive 
of  anything  is  to  think  it,  we  have  concepts  of  all  kinds 
of  things,  such  as  individuals,  particulars,  concretes, 
abstracts,  and  universals.  We  can  now  have  a  concept 
of  the  John  Smith  we  perceived  on  the  street  or  the 
bay  horse  we  saw  passing ;  that  is,  we  may  think  those 
individuals.  It  is  true  that  in  the  history  of  thought 
the  term  conception  has  been  limited  almost  exclusively 
to  having  general  notions,  and  still  is.  Thus  Sully 
says,  "A  concept  is  a  representation  in  our  minds 
answering  to  a  general  name ; "  and  even  Baldwin's 
"Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology,"  the  latest 
authority  on  psychological  nomenclature,  defines  con- 
ception as  "cognition  of  a  universal  as  distinguished 
from  the  particulars  which  it  unifies."  This  associa- 
tion of  conception  and  general  notions  goes  back  to 
the  time  of  Socrates,  who  first  discovered  concepts,  and 
to  Plato,  who  eulogized  and  hypostatized  them  in  his 
theory  of  the  "ideas."  But  the  essential  thing  about 
conceiving  is  not  that  the  objects  conceived  shall  be 
universals,  but  that  the  thing,  whether  universal  or 
individual,  shall  be  thought  in  its  distinctness  from 
other  things. 

what  Perhaps  it  will  assist  us  in  realizing  that  to  conceive 

is  to  think  if  we  briefly  refer  to  a  few  things  that  con- 
ceiving is  not.  To  conceive  is  not  to  have  a  mental 
image  or  picture;  this  is  imagination;  though  for 
visualizers  conceiving  may  be  attended  by  vague  com- 
posite photographs  in  consciousness,  as  it  were,  in  case 
the  object  conceived  is  a  universal.  Again,  a  concept 


Stimulating  the  Mind  to  Conceive       157 

is  not  necessarily  of  the  existent;  we  may  conceive 
mountains  of  gold  and  pictures  of  silver,  round  squares 
and  perpetual  motion,  but  none  of  these  things  exist. 
And  still  again,  let  us  not  suppose  that  we  can  com- 
pletely comprehend  anything  we  conceive ;  to  conceive 
is  not  necessarily  to  comprehend  completely;  we 
conceive  the  infinite  and  God  without  fully  compre- 
hending either. 

At  this  point  it  becomes  evident  how  wide  is  the  The  Extent 

of  Concep- 

extent  of  our  power  to  conceive.  The  sway  of  con-  tion. 
ception  includes  all  definitions,  laws,  problems,  and 
objects  of  thought.  All  definitions  are  concepts: 
without  the  conceiving  ability  on  the  part  of  man 
there  could  be  no  dictionary.  All  laws,  natural,  civil, 
moral,  are  possible  through  conception;  they  imply 
the  ability  to  think  things  in  their  essential  similarities, 
to  rise  above  the  concrete  experiences  as  they  come,  to 
separate  off  the  accident  from  the  essence.  All  prob- 
lems imply  conception ;  to  have  a  problem  and  to  feel 
it  as  one  is  impossible  to  a  non-conceiving  intelligence ; 
how  to  live,  how  to  spend  time,  what  occupation  to 
follow,  these  are  questions  that  confront  only  a  con- 
ceiving intelligence.  In  short,  we  shall  find  no  power 
of  consciousness  wider  in  scope  than  conception. 

At  this  thought  we  must  pause  to  inquire  whether  Why  should 

.,       the  Mind  be 

teachers  have  any  duty  to  perform  toward  their  pupils  stimulated 
as   conceiving   intelligences,  whether   this   so   compre-  to  Conceive  ? 
hensive  human  ability  should  be  stimulated  into  ac- 
tivity through  our  effort.     We  cannot  but  answer  these 


158     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

questions  affirmatively  when  we  consider  several 
things.  In  the  first  place,  conceiving  is  a  higher  power 
of  mind  than  perceiving,  for,  whereas  perceiving  gives 
us  experience,  conceiving  takes  it  up  and  mediates  it 
with  thought,  thus  both  bringing  out  a  new  power  of 
consciousness  and  also  making  our  experience  signi- 
ficant. Secondly,  conceiving  is  a  mental  economy, 
resolving  many  particulars  into  a  few  unities  by  dis- 
covering their  links  of  similarity;  conceiving  strings 
the  beads  of  perceptual  experience.  Thirdly,  con- 
ceiving makes  possible  that  later  power  of  conscious- 
ness we  shall  discuss  under  reasoning,  for  to  induce  is 
a  certain  way  of  conceiving  particulars,  and  to  deduce 
is  another  way  of  conceiving  universals.  Fourthly, 
conceiving  conditions  the  development  of  science,  art, 
and  morals,  for  in  these  regions  general  principles  are 
involved,  and  the  particulars  are  of  value  only  as  they 
embody  principles;  in  art,  for  example,  not  the  sub- 
ject chosen  but  its  means  of  treatment  is  the  important 
thing.  And  fifthly,  it  will  encourage  us  in  our  efforts 
to  fertilize  the  mind  that  it  may  conceive  if  we  remem- 
ber that  without  cultivation  the  highest  reaches  of 
conception  will  not  be  attained  at  all.  For  the  en- 
forcement of  this  consideration  let  me  quote  from 
Bain: — 

"Without  much  prompting,  the  child  goes  on  accu- 
mulating classes  of  the  first  degree,  and  would  go  on 
to  the  end  of  his  life  in  the  same  course.  It  is  only  by 
express  teaching  that  it  climbs  to  the  higher  degrees 
—  to  take  cognizance  of  a  piece  of  furniture,  a  tool, 
a  quadruped,  a  sum,  a  sensation,  a  society;  and  a 


Stimulating  the   Mind  to  Conceive        159 

very  large  part  of  teaching  is  occupied  with  this  work. 
It  comes  up  in  season  and  out  of  season,  and  the 
teacher's  resources  should  always  be  equal  to  it;  at 
any  rate  he  should  know  whether  or  not  it  is  hi  his 
competence  at  the  time.  He  cannot  be  too  well  in- 
formed as  to  the  conditions  of  success  in  explaining 
and  impressing  a  generality.  Indeed,  this  is  the  central 
fact  or  essence  of  Exposition,  properly  so  called." ! 

Seeing  the  importance  of  doing  it,  we  now  ask  the 
practical  question,  how  shall  consciousness  be  stimu-  sck>usnessto 
lated  to  conceive?    The  great  first  thing  is  to  secure  conceive? 
that  the  lesson  after  presentation  be  conceptualized. 
The  new  material  is  presented  singly  that  it  may  be 
perceived;  after  such  presentation  it  must  be  thought  Conceptuai- 
as  a  whole;    some  general  notion  must  be  reached  Lesson, 
which  will  unify  the  whole.     Facts  are  first  to  be  per- 
ceived as  individuals;    then  they  are  to  be  explained 
and  interpreted  by  principles.     No  lesson  after  being 
taught  in  its  detail  should  be  left  without  summariz- 
ing it   in  a   single   proposition.     Perceptions  fertilize 
the  mind,  which  should  then  conceive  and  bring  ideas 
to  the  birth.     As  the  great  old  Pestalozzi  said,    "It 
is  the  chief  business  of  education  to  pass  from  dis- 
tinctly perceived  individual  notions  to  clear  general 
notions." 

In  developing  concepts  we  cannot  do  better   than  ^x  th 
attempt  to  imitate  the  maieutic  art  of  Socrates.     In 
the  dialogue  of  Plato  entitled  "  Theaetetus,"  Socrates 
describes  himself  as  following  his  mother's  profession 

1  "Education  as  a  Science,"  p.  191. 


160     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

of  midwifery,  —  only  he  brings  ideas  to  the  birth. 
A  good  example  of  Socrates  at  work  is  found  in  Plato's 
short  and  easy  dialogue,  the  "  Meno."  Socrates  exe- 
cuted his  art  by  the  question  and  answer  method,  lead- 
ing the  mind  on  gradually  from  point  to  point  until  it 
reached  the  general  notion.  If,  as  he  said,  the  Gor- 
gias  of  Plato  taught  the  late  Senator  Hoar  the  art 
of  cross-questioning  as  a  lawyer,  it  and  the  other  So- 
cratic  dialogues  will  teach  us  much  concerning  the 
attractive  art  of  pedagogical  questioning.  Only  we 
must  avoid  the  leading  question  so  much  indulged  in 
by  Socrates. 

Learn  to  Next  it  is  to  be  observed  that  exact  general  notions 

through8  come  only  through  conduct.  We  get  a  better  general 
Acting.  notion  of  a  play  by  seeing  it  acted  than  by  reading  it, 
and  by  taking  part  in  it  ourselves  than  by  seeing  it 
acted.  We  get  a  better  general  notion  of  an  author's 
style  through  attempting  to  imitate  it  than  through 
reading  it.  We  get  better  notions  of  forms  and  figures 
when  we  make  them  than  when  we  see  or  read  about 
them.  Particularly  is  it  true  of  young  minds  that  their 
concepts  tend  to  be  motor  in  character :  the  axe  is  what 
you  cut  with,  the  penis  what  you  write  with,  "mem- 
ory is  what  you  forget  with,"  and  "salt  is  what  makes 
your  potatoes  taste  bad  when  you  don't  put  it  on," 
etc.  Action  both  originates  and  defines  our  concepts. 
The  man  who  has  never  given  anything  has  a  very 
vague  concept  of  what  it  is  to  be  a  philanthropist; 
the  man  who  has  never  hoarded  money  has  a  very 
vague  concept  of  what  it  is  to  be  a  miser;  and  the 
man  who  is  not  moral  has  great  difficulty  in  appreciat- 


Stimulating  the  Mind  to  Conceive      161 

ing  that  there  is  any  morality  anywhere.  Clear  con- 
cepts everywhere  are  the  product  of  vigorous  action. 

It  has  just  been  observed  that  with  young  minds  LeadAdo- 
particularly  concepts  arise  through  action.  Now,  older  generalize 
pupils  hi  the  secondary  school  may  be  taught  to  gen-  consciously 
eralize  consciously.  That  is,  following  the  old  psycho- 
logical account  of  the  origin  of  conception  through 
comparison,  abstraction,  and  generalization,  an  ac- 
count applicable  enough  to  fairly  mature  minds, 
adolescent  pupils  may  be  led  to  reach  general  notions 
consciously.  Call  for  the  evident  principle  in  a  cer- 
tain general's  campaign,  the  essential  meaning  of  a 
certain  historic  movement,  like  the  revolt  of  the  colo- 
nies, their  federation,  their  later  union.  It  is  a  great 
pleasure  to  consciousness  to  generalize,  so  much  so 
that  we  need  only  to  give  the  opportunity;  then  it 
will  be  our  task  to  see  that  the  facts  are  first  known 
and  then  not  violated  as  the  mind  rises  to  the  general 
notion,  —  so  much  so  that  Lord  Bacon  has  somewhere 
told  us  that  the  mind  needs  not  so  much  wings  by 
which  to  rise  as  weights  to  keep  it  down.  Of  course 
it  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized  that  the  indis- 
pensable prerequisite  for  any  general  notion  is  the 
particulars,  percepts  and  actions,  upon  which  it  is 
founded. 

And  vary  the  instances.     Before  naming  the  con-  vary  the 

.  Instances, 

cept  of  square,  for  example,  show  it  in  many  sizes, 
materials,  and  objects.  Before  naming  or  defining 
the  term  graft  that  covers  to-day  such  a  multitude 
of  sins  in  American  life,  illustrate  it  from  the  simplest 
to  the  highest  types  of  violation  of  trust  for  personal 


1 62     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Discover 

Causal 

Relations. 


Cultivate 
Definition. 


ends.  Instances  that  show  contrasts  will  sharply 
define  concepts,  as  round  and  square,  virtue  and 
vice,  white  and  black,  true  and  false,  beautiful 
and  ugly,  etc.  "The  habit  of  assigning  contrasts 
or  opposites  needs  to  coexist  in  the  mind  of  every 
instructor,  with  the  habit  of  quoting  examples  as 
particulars."  1 

One  of  the  commonest  and  most  far-reaching  of 
the  concepts  is  that  of  cause  and  effect.  Few  con- 
cepts will  unify  experiences  or  historic  periods  better 
than  causation.  This  concept  views  events  under 
the  form  of  time,  and  asserts  the  real  unity  of  the  ear- 
lier and  later.  The  earlier  is  the  later  hi  potential 
form,  and  the  later  is  the  earlier  hi  realized  form. 
Everywhere  there  is  identity  between  cause  and  effect 
except  in  time.  The  lightning  is  the  electricity  that 
was  in  the  cloud,  the  thunder  is  the  air  vibrations 
set  hi  motion  by  the  electric  discharge,  the  wet  ground 
is  the  earlier  rain  in  the  new  position  time  gives  it, 
and  so  on.  If  we  think  of  the  effect  as  the  transformed 
energy  of  the  cause,  we  shall  have  it.  This  concept 
will  serve  pupils  hi  conceiving  the  unities  hi  experience 
as  few  others  can,  and  the  hunt  for  the  cause  will  be 
one  of  the  most  stimulating  intellectual  pursuits  in 
which  classes  can  engage. 

Further,  let  me  suggest  that  we  seek  to  cultivate  the 
art  of  striking  definition.  The  proper  place  for  a  defi- 
nition is  after  the  thing  to  be  defined  has  been  reached 
and  named,  is  after  our  inquiry  is  over,  as  Kant  said. 
A  definition  should  sum  up,  not  initiate,  an  inquiry. 

1  Bain,  op.  cit.  p.  195. 


Stimulating  the  Mind  to  Conceive      163 

To  begin  with,  a  definition  is  likely  to  prejudice  the 
investigation.  First  the  facts  observed,  then  the  con- 
cept reached,  then  the  term  denned,  —  this  is  the 
natural  order.  Too  many  terms  remain  undefined 
both  by  us  and  by  our  pupils.  Try  yourself  now  on 
the  exact  meaning  of  such  common  terms  as  science, 
evolution,  education.  Define  well  yourself,  and  get 
your  pupils  to  define;  and  to  define  well  you  will 
make  use  first  of  percepts  and  acts,  then  of  words.  It 
should  be  kept  in  mind  that  a  logical  definition 
states  the  genus  to  which  the  thing  defined  belongs 
and  the  differentia  which  distinguishes  it  from  the 
other  species  belonging  to  the  same  genus,  as  in 
Aristotle's  famous  definition  of  man  as  a  rational 
animal. 
And  my  last  suggestion  is  that  the  teacher  make  an  Tabulate  the 

Present  Con- 

experimental  investigation  of  the  conceptual  knowl-  CePtuai 
edge  of  his  class.  Make  a  list  of  the  leading  concepts 
of  your  subject  and  discover  what  the  class  already 
knows  of  their  meaning.  Such  an  investigation  will 
show  you  both  where  to  begin  and  how  to  proceed. 
We  take  too  much  for  granted  in  dealing  with  our 
pupils,  regularly  assuming  they  know  more  about  the 
elemental  concepts  of  which  we  speak  than  they  do. 
Such  an  investigation  as  this  is  the  more  necessary 
when  pupils  have  studied  our  subject  with  other  teach- 
ers before  coming  to  us.  As  an  illuminating  example 
of  such  an  investigation  as  is  here  recommended,  I 
append  the  following  table : '  - 

1  Taken    from    Kirkpatrick,    "  Fundamentals   of   Child   Study," 
p.  274. 


164     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Per  cents  of  ignorance  of  Boston  children  entering  school :  — 

Robin 60.5  Ankles 65.5 

Pig 47.5  Elbows 25.0 

Chicken 33.5  Dew 78.0 

Elm  tree 91.5  Woods 53.5 

Wrist 70.5  Hill 28.0 

Having  these  and  similar  facts  in  mind,  we  realize 
better  what  the  problem  in  the  elementary  grades  is, 
and  why  President  Hall  should  be  led  to  say,  "The 
best  preparation  parents  can  give  their  children  for 
good  school  training  is  to  make  them  acquainted  with 
natural  objects,  especially  with  sights  and  sounds 
of  the  country." 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Plato's  Theory  of  the  Ideas. 

2.  Realism  and  Nominalism. 

3.  The  Old  and  the  New  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Concepts. 

4.  Concepts  and  Language. 

REFERENCES  ON  CONCEPTION 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  191-197. 

Baldwin,  Methods  and  Processes,  pp.  322-332. 

De  Garmo,  Essentials  of  Method,  pp.  18-23. 

Dewey,  Psychology,  pp.  204-213. 

Harris,  Psychologic  Foundations  of  Education,  pp.  37-42,  78-89, 

and  ch.  26. 

Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  285-292. 
Schaeffer,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think,  ch.  VII. 
Smith,  Methods  of  Knowledge,  ch.  IV. 
Sully,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  ch.  IX. 

Sully.  Teachers'  Handbook  of  Psychology,  chs.  XII  and  XIII. 
Taylor,  The  Study  of  the  Child,  chs.  XII  or  XVII. 
Tompkins,  The  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  pp.  183-198. 
Welton,  The  Logical  Bases  of  Education,  pp.  220-234. 


CHAPTER  Xin 

TRAINING  THE  MIND  TO  JUDGE 

"  THE  faculty  of  judgment  is  a  special  talent  which  K"1*  quoted. 
cannot  be  taught,  but  must  be  practised.  This  is  what 
constitutes  our  so-called  mother-wit,  the  absence  of 
which  cannot  be  remedied  by  any  schooling.  For 
although  the  teacher  may  offer,  and,  as  it  were,  graft 
into  a  narrow  understanding  plenty  of  rules  borrowed 
from  the  experience  of  others,  the  faculty  of  using  them 
rightly  must  belong  to  the  pupil  himself,  and  without 
that  talent  no  precept  that  may  be  given  is  safe  from 
abuse."  l 

Every  teacher  of  experience  will  agree  with  these 
wise  words  of  the  great  Kant.  We  are  come,  not  to 
teach,  but  to  practise  the  judgment  of  our  pupils.  In 
order  that  we  may  be  prepared  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  how  to  practise  the  native  judgment  of  our 
pupils,  let  us  briefly  note  the  nature  of  judgment,  the 
causes  of  false  judgment,  and  the  advantages  of  having 
a  practised  judgment. 

A  judgment  when  expressed  in  language  is  what 
the  grammarians  call  a  sentence,  and  the  logicians  a 
proposition.  Both  the  sentence  and  the  proposition 
are  objective  manifestations  of  the  mental  act  of  judg- 

1  Kant,  "Critique  of  Pure  Reason,"  p.  133,  MUller  Tr. 


1 66     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

ing.  It  is  the  business  of  the  psychologist  to  go  behind 
the  sentence  and  the  proposition  in  order  to  discover 
what  the  mind  has  done  that  gets  expression  in  these 
ways.  Upon  introspection  we  shall  probably  find 
that  in  judging  the  mind  makes  some  assertion  con- 
cerning reality.  Judgment  is  "the  mental  function 
and  act  of  assertion  or  predication."  *  Upon  examina- 
tion we  shall  further  find  that  these  assertions  we  are 
continually  making  about  things  and  one  another  are 
either  affirmative  or  negative;  we  assert  either  that 
things  go  together  or  that  they  do  not.  Or,  as  Professor 
Royce  puts  it:  "  When  we  judge,  we  accept  or  reject  a 
given  proposed  portrayal  of  objects  as  adequate,  or  as 
fitting  its  own  purpose."  2  To  accept  the  description 
of  man  as  rational  and  mortal,  to  reject  the  description 
of  man  as  infallible  and  perfect,  is  to  judge. 

At  this  point  we  must  note  that  intelligence  all  along 
in  its  development,  beginning  even  with  sensation,  has 
been  struggling  to  know  the  truth,  has  been  reaching 
out  after  reality.  In  judgment  at  last  consciousness 
becomes  able  actually  to  make  assertions  as  to  what 
the  reality  is  with  which  it  has  been  dealing  all  along.  In 
fact,  it  would  be  correct  to  say  that  judging  is  implicit 
in  all  the  preceding  stages  of  intellectual  development. 
It  is  true  that  the  responses  of  intelligence  to  reality 
so  far  have  been  rather  unconscious  than  clearly  con- 
scious of  themselves ;  nevertheless,  in  every  stage  intel- 
ligence has  been  making  such  responses  as  it  could  to 
reality.  A  sensation  is  the  response  of  intelligence  to 

1  Baldwin's  Dictionary. 

2  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  pp.  292-293. 


Training  the   Mind  to  Judge  167 

stimulation;  perception  is  the  repeated  response  of 
intelligence  to  sensation ;  conception  is  the  response  of 
intelligence  to  repeated  perception;  memory  and  the 
reproductive  imagination  are  the  response  of  intelligence 
to  its  past;  and  the  productive  imagination  is  the 
response  of  intelligence  to  the  future  or  to  ideal  values. 
Everywhere  the  judging  activity  has  underlain  the  work 
of  intelligence.  At  last  this  judging  activity  becomes 
conscious  of  itself  in  making  assertions  about  the  nature 
of  reality.  It  is  having  such  thoughts  as  these  in  mind 
that  has  led  Professor  Dewey  to  speak  of  judgment  as 
"the  typical  act  of  intelligence " ;  or  Professor  Creighton 
to  describe  judgment  as  "the  elementary  process  of 
thought" ;  or  Dr.  Everett  to  write,  "with  the  judgment 
we  first  enter  the  realm  of  objective  reality."  For  an 
amplification  of  this  brief  account  of  the  nature  of  judg- 
ment recourse  must  be  had  to  the  works  on  logic. 

Every  judgment  intends  to  be  true ;  no  man  seeking  Causes  of 
the  truth  intends  to  deceive  himself.    The  judgment  judgment, 
that  he  has  reached  appeals  to  him  as  true.     Never- 
theless, it  frequently  happens,  as  we  all   know,  that 
judgments  may  be  false ;  it  has  turned  out  that  we  were 
honestly  mistaken.     Could  we  but  eliminate  false  judg- 
ments,  by  so  much  the  more  should  we  know  the 
truth.     It  will  help  us  to  enumerate  some  of  the  causes 
of  false  judgments. 

Before   doing   so  it  may  be  well  to  draw  certain  Thc  Falsity 

of  Judgments 

distinctions.     We  have  seen  that  the  judgment  is  the  an'dthe 
subjective  mental  act  of  assertion  concerning  reality 
that   gets   its  objective   expression   in   a   sentence   or 


1 68     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

proposition.  Now  a  judgment  may  be  false,  but  it 
cannot  be  a  falsehood,  while  a  proposition  may  be  a 
falsehood.  The  proposition  which  intentionally  mis- 
represents my  judgment  is  a  falsehood,  and  as  such  is 
reprehensible;  a  judgment  at  worst  can  be  only  false, 
while  intending  all  the  while  to  reach  the  truth.  We  are 
not  discussing  the  causes  of  falsehood,  or  why  men  lie, 
but  the  causes  of  false  judgments,  or  why  they  make 
honest  mistakes  when  aiming  to  state  the  truth. 
Lack  of  Now  the  causes  of  false  judgments  are  many ;  let  us 

Observation  J  . 

enumerate  five,  viz.  lack  of  observation,  lack   of  re- 
1  flection,   mental    dependence    on    others,    prejudices, 
and  lack  of  experience  in  the  field  of  the  judgment. 
\  Lack  of  observation  warns  us  against  neglect  of  facts 
in  making  our  judgments.    Really,  the  first  thing  to 
do  is  to  get  the  data,  then  judge.     This  is  so  obvious 
that  it  would  seem  unnecessary  to  mention  it,  did  not 
we  all  tend  so  strongly  to  pass  judgments  out  of  the 
fulness  of  our  ignorance.     Most  of  the  adverse  criti- 
cisms on  people  we  let  slip  "the  barrier  of  our  teeth," 
to  use  a  Homeric  expression,  are  without  knowledge  of 
the  facts  involved. 
and  Lack  of  reflection  warns  us  against  mental  haste  in 

Reflection.  .  .  ,      .  _,      ° 

reaching  our  conclusions.  The  facts  must  not  simply 
be  at  hand;  they  must  also  be  thought  through.  It 
is  not  easy. to  think;  in  fact,  really  to  think  is  one  of 
the  most  difficult  feats  our  intelligence  accomplishes. 
We  are  altogether  deluded  as  to  the  amount  of  thinking 
we  really  do,  and  it  would  be  both  true  and  surprising 
to  say  that  many  of  us  have  never  devoted  a  solid  hour 
to  serious  reflection  upon  any  difficult  problem  in  life. 


Training  the  Mind  to  Judge  169 

On  the  contrary,  our  time  is  mostly  taken  up  with  snap- 
shot judgments,  the  jumping  at  conclusions,  and  the 
thoughtless  expression  of  opinion.  We  ought  to  agree 
with  the  judgment  of  Cicero,  "to  think  is  to  live,"  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  making  thinking  a  part  of  our 
living.  Our  judgments  would  certainly  be  by  so  much 
improved. 
Mental  dependence  on  others  warns  us  against  not  Mental 

Dependence 

thinking  for  ourselves,  and  merely  reflecting  as  in  a 
mirror  the  opinion  of  others.  Thus  the  false  judg- 
ments of  others  are  delivered  by  us,  and  the  true 
judgments  of  others,  not  being  thought  through  by  us, 
are  misunderstood  and  so  passed  on  into  circulation. 
The  logicians  warn  us  against  the  fallacy  of  appealing 
to  authority,  argumentum  ad  verecundiam,  and  Schopen- 
hauer writes  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  his  essays  on 
"Thinking  for  Oneself."  Look  it  up  !  Aristarchus  in 
the  third  century  B.C.  said  the  earth  was  not  the  physical 
centre  of  the  universe,  but  the  authorities  got  the  better 
of  him  till  Copernicus  came.  Discovery  and  inven- 
tion, the  Newtons  and  the  Whitneys,  are  impossible 
where  the  fashion  rules  of  thinking  as  others  think. 
The  temptation  is  peculiarly  strong  to  do  so  in  all  the 
conservative  regions  of  human  nature,  as  in  religious 
matters.  Certain  systems  of  religion  and  education  are 
in  danger  of  cultivating  the  very  mental  subserviency 
they  should  avoid;  as  Macaulay  somewhere  says,  in 
effect,  of  the  Jesuits,  they  found  the  point  up  to  which 
mental  cultivation  could  be  carried  without  reaching 
mental  independence. 
Of  prejudices  as  a  cause  of  false  judgments  it  is  not  Prejudices. 


170     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

necessary  that  much  be  said  either  to  clarify  or  em- 
phasize the  point.  The  word  itself  indicates  that  a 
prejudice  is  a  prejudgment.  Our  prejudices  are 
usually  emotional,  not  rational,  in  character,  and  of 
them  Descartes,  that  clear  thinker  and  founder  of 
modern  philosophy,  remarks  somewhere  that  "a  man 
can  more  easily  burn  down  his  own  house  than  get  rid 
of  his  prejudices."  Like  jealousy,  they  make  the  food 
they  feed  upon;  like  spiders,  they  live  where  there  is 
no  food  to  feed  upon.  To  what  one  of  us  has  it  ever 
occurred  to  estimate  truly  the  virtues  of  my  enemy? 
It  is  proverbial  that  every  question  has  two  sides,  but 
our  side  usually  contents  us.  The  wise  Bacon  enu- 
merated four  kinds  of  "idols"  that  beset  the  human 
reason;  the  second  kind  is  those  of  "the  Cave" ;  every 
man  views  the  world  through  the  uncertain  opening  of 
his  own  cave ;  Bacon  meant  by  the  "  idols  of  the  Cave  " 
our  prejudices. 
Lack  of  And  lastly,  lack  of  experience  in  the  field  of  judg- 

Experience.  . 

ment  is  a  common  cause  of  false  judgments.  Prob- 
ably we  are  all  experts  at  something,  but  not  at 
everything.  To  pass  judgment  beyond  our  own  field 
is  hazardous.  Perhaps  the  many  "symposiums"  in 
newspapers  and  magazines  err  from  this  cause  as 
much  as  from  any  other;  it  is  apparently  thought  that 
because  a  man  has  won  prominence  in  one  line  his 
opinion  will  be  valuable  in  all  lines.  The  false-hearted 
man's  judgment  about  society  is  worthless,  for  it  takes 
an  honest  man  to  recognize  an  honest  man.  Plato  with 
great  acumen  makes  the  physicians  in  his  ideal  society 
of  weak  bodies  that  they  may  the  better  judge  con- 


Training  the  Mind  to  Judge  171 

earning  the  diseases  of  their  patients,  but  his  legal 
judges  he  keeps  free  from  the  taint  of  corrupt  practices, 
for  no  man  is  a  better  moral  judge  for  being  immoral; 
to  judge  sin  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  been  a  sinner; 
to  judge  a  righteous  man  it  is  necessary  to  be  righteous. 
These,  then,  are  some  of  the  causes  of  false  judgment. 
Fortunate  are  we  if,  knowing  them,  we  may  avoid 
them. 

The  contrast  to  the  matter  of  false  judgments  ap-  "Ple 

J  r      Advantages 

pears  as  we  now  come  to  think  of  the  advantages  of  a  of  a  Trained 
practised  or  trained  judgment.     Upon  reflection  it  will  Judsment- 
appear  that  these  advantages  are  at  least  four,  viz. 
efficiency,  individuality,  self-confidence,  and  social  ser- 
vice.   A  trained  judgment  increases  the  efficiency  of  a  Efficiency- 
man.    When  the  problems  of  living  arise  for  settle- 
ment, he  knows  what  to  do  and  advise.    The  judg- 
ment is  the  mind's  tool  for  life;    rare  enough  are  the 
men  whose  judgment  is  a  dependable  tool. 

A  trained  judgment  adds  to  the  individuality  of  a  indmduai- 
man,  making  him  intellectually  independent  and  self- 
reliant,  and  preserving  him  from  essential  subjection 
to  an  authority  other  than  his  own.  Rare,  too,  are  the 
persons  whose  judgment  is  really  something  more  than 
the  mirror  of  other  men's  minds;  like  "luna  with  the 
bastard  light,"  they  are  good  reflectors.  Our  judg- 
ment should  be  our  torch,  not  our  mirror.  Even  in 
seeking  the  counsel  of  others  our  own  judgment  should 
appear  in  selecting  those  to  whom  to  go. 

A  trained  judgment  also  increases  our  self-confidence,  s*1*- 

•  confidence. 

making  us  intellectually  self-respecting.     It  is  no  small 


1 72     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Social 
Service. 


Suggestions 
for  the 
Teacher. 


Subordinate 
Information. 


Independent 
Thinking. 


equipment  for  living  to  have  a  certain  sense  of  mental 
mastery  over  circumstances,  to  be  able  to  conquer 
through  applied  knowledge,  using  the  facts  of  nature 
for  our  purposes,  and  comprehending  the  inwardness 
of  the  acts  of  men  for  mutual  benefit. 

And  lastly,  a  trained  judgment,  to  him  that  has  the 
disposition,  admits  of  large  social  service.  There  is 
always  need  of  the  moralized  intellectual  giant  to  bring 
order  out  of  human  confusion.  In  our  day  especially 
there  is  need  of  a  socialized  judgment  with  a  conscience 
behind  it.  The  times  are  overripe  for  the  wise  solver 
of  the  problems  of  social  righteousness,  who  will  not 
simply  tell  us  the  way,  but  be  our  way.  Old  forces 
with  power  enough  resident  in  them  to  save  the  in- 
dividual in  his  private  life  need  to  be  applied  to  saving 
that  same  individual  in  his  public  life. 

That  we  as  teachers  may  do  what  we  can  to  provide 
society  with  such  efficient  servants,  there  are  certain 
things  to  which  we  must  attend  day  by  day  in  our 
work.  First,  then,  subordinate  in  importance  the 
knowledge  of  the  fact  to  the  ability  to  judge  concern- 
ing the  fact.  Discover  the  bearings,  the  relationships, 
the  applications  of  the  fact.  This  means  that  knowl- 
edge passes  over  into  wisdom.  As  the  use  of  money  is 
more  important  than  acquiring  it,  so  is  use  of  knowl- 
edge. To  follow  this  one  suggestion  would  mean  that 
we  teach  the  subject  less  and  the  pupils  more,  securing 
from  them  the  expression  of  opinion  close  upon  the 
recital  of  facts. 

Second,  cultivate  hi  pupils  the  habit  of  independent 


Training  the  Mind  to  Judge  173 

thinking.  Ask  such  questions  as  necessitate  it,  and  be 
inwardly  discontent  until  you  have  secured  it.  From 
a  theme  of  one  of  my  summer  pupils,  a  practical  teacher, 
I  quote  the  following :  "In  a  class  in  Mediaeval  History, 
in  a  lesson  on  the  persecution  of  the  Christians,  the 
lecturer  walked  into  the  room  and  as  he  took  his  seat 
he  looked  up  at  me  from  his  roll  book  and  said,  'Miss 

,  if  you  had  been  the  Emperor  of  Rome,  would 

you  have  persecuted  the  Christians  ? '  That  one  ques- 
tion has  meant  more  to  me  than  any  one  book  on  applied 
psychology  that  I  have  read  since."  And  as  we  read 
the  question,  it  is  still  provoking  thought.  When  a 
diffident  pupil  has  met  us  with  his  independent  opinion, 
deal  with  it  gently.  Entertain  originality  hospitably. 
The  very  aim  of  the  class-room  work  is  not  uniform 
knowledge,  but  multiform  thinking. 
Third,  do  not  tell  the  class  what  to  think,  —  this  is  Direct  the 

.  '  Thinking. 

dogmatism,  with  us  the  authority,  but  direct  their 
thinking,  hesitating  not  to  express  your  own  opinion 
at  the  right  time.  Our  class-room  discussions  are  not 
so  much  to  settle  things  as  to  arouse  the  investigating 
spirit.  For  young  people  to  be  on  the  hunt  for  truth 
is  transcendently  more  important  than  for  them  to 
suppose  they  have  learned  it.  And  why  is  not  the 
statement  equally  applicable  to  ourselves?  It  is  an 
error  to  suppose  that  the  class  comes  out  right,  when 
we  tell  them  what  is  right ;  teaching  is  not  telling,  it  is 
stimulating. 
Fourth,  consider  the  text-book  a  guide  to  be  under-  The  Text  a 

Guide. 

stood,  not  an  authority  to  be  memorized.  This  for 
teacher  and  pupils  alike.  For  the  teacher  to  dare  to  ' 


174     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Practise ! 


The  Mean 
between 
Authority 
and  Inde- 
pendence. 


disagree,  and  to  know  enough  to  do  so  successfully, 
will  mark  an  era  in  that  class-room.  Be  continually 
making  contributions  to  the  text;  your  pupils  will 
thrive  in  such  a  bracing  atmosphere.  The  real  teacher 
is  not  the  teacher  of  a  book,  but  the  teacher  of  the  truth, 
using  books  only  to  supplement  his  teaching. 

Fifth,  following  the  suggestion  of  the  wise  Kant  in 
the  opening  quotation,  practise  the  judgment.  The 
mind  judging  is  the  mind  asserting  what  is  true,  feeling 
what  is  beautiful,  or  sensing  what  is  good.  The  element 
of  judgment  appears  in  science,  in  art,  and  in  morality. 
Judgment  in  matters  of  art  is  usually  called  taste,  and 
in  matters  of  morality,  conscience.  To  practise  the 
judgment,  then,  it  is  necessary  in  science  to  hunt  for  the 
truth,  classify  new  specimens,  find  the  meanings  of 
things,  and,  passing  into  philosophy,  intuite  the  unity 
of  reality.  In  art  it  is  necessary  to  estimate  beautiful 
things  of  nature  and  man,  seeking  out  the  ideal  they 
embody,  and  determining  the  degree  of  success  with 
which  the  material  manifests  the  ideal.  In  history, 
biography,  and  literature  it  is  necessary  to  estimate  the 
motives  and  conduct  of  the  characters  studied,  so  far  as 
these  are  easily  accessible.  In  the  works  of  the  pro- 
ductive imagination  this  is  easy  to  do,  as  the  characters 
lie  open  before  us.  One's  self-respect  tends  to  prevent 
his  doing  what  he  does  not  excuse  in  another. 

Sixth,  to  avoid  a  youthful  self-sufficiency  while 
securing  the  original  expression  of  opinion,  it  is  necessary 
to  strike  the  golden  mean  between  independence  and 
authority.  The  young  child  is  entirely  under  authority 
in  his  thinking,  influenced  by  associates,  parents,  and 


Training  the  Mind  to  Judge  175 

teachers.  The  mature  man  ought  to  do  his  own  think- 
ing. The  transition  from  childhood  to  manhood  is  to 
be  gradually  effected  in  youth,  in  which  respect  for  the 
judgment  of  elders  is  to  be  preserved  while  a  certain 
independence  is  to  be  won.  Youthful  irreverence  and 
mature  dependence  are  to  be  avoided.  It  is  much  easier 
to  give  this  suggestion  than  it  is  to  heed  it,  and  however 
successfully  the  example  of  independence  and  reverence 
is  illustrated  or  portrayed,  we  may  at  times  expect  youth- 
ful energies  to  break  bounds  and  rush  over  holy  ground. 
When  all  is  said  and  done,  let  us  remember  finally  TOe  Action 

J    of  Nature 

that  the  matter  of  getting  a  good  judgment  is  nature's  and  Time, 
doing  in  the  beginning  and  time's  doing  in  the  end. 
If  it  is  in  us  to  start  with,  a  rich  and  concentrated 
experience  will  bring  it  out.  Especially  will  long  asso- 
ciation with  one's  chosen  work  develop  within  him  a 
certain  power  of  judging  in  those  matters.  Thus  our 
great  engineers  are  made.  The  man  neglected  by 
nature  can  never  acquire  a  power  of  judging  worth 
while;  the  average  man  will  certainly  acquire  by 
experience  a  good  judgment  in  his  own  business;  the 
man  gifted  by  nature  will  be  able  to  build  up  a  power 
of  judging  based  even  on  the  experience  of  others. 
It  is  our  business  to  help  our  pupils  realize  whatsoever 
capacity  of  judging  nature  has  bestowed  upon  them. 


1.  The  Characteristics  of  Judgment. 

2.  The  Logical  Classification  of  Judgments. 

3.  Distinctions  between  Judgment,  Understanding,  Belief,  and 

Doubt. 

4.  Brentano's  Theory  of  Judgment. 


176     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


REFERENCES  ON  JUDGMENT 

Angell,  Psychology,  pp.  225-234. 

Compayrd,  Psychology  applied  to  Education,  ch.  VI. 

Creighton,  Introductory  Logic,  ch.  XXI. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  XI. 

Everett,  Science  of  Thought,  pp.  93-105. 

Knowlson,  The  Art  of  Thinking,  ch.  IV. 

Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  255-257. 

Schaeffer,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think,  chs.  I  and  VIII. 

Sully,  The  Teacher's  Handbook  of  Psychology,  pp.  363-375. 

Tompkins,  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  183-203. 

Welton,  Logical  Bases  of  Education,  ch.  V. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TEACHING   TO   REASON 

As  in  many  of  our  discussions  heretofore  and  to 
follow,  it  is  necessary  here  also  to  omit  purely  theo- 
retical inquiries  and  to  select  for  consideration  only 
those  matters  that  will  lead  to  practical  conclusions. 
Passing  by,  then,  such  matters  as  the  nature  and  kinds 
of  reasoning,  let  us  consider  certain  contrasts  that  exist 
between  inductive  and  deductive  reasoning,  the  bearing 
of  these  two  kinds  of  reasoning  on  teaching,  and,  finally, 
certain  suggestions  in  teaching  the  mind  to  reason. 

Let  us  begin  by  contrasting  induction  and  deduction,   induction 
First,  in  induction  the  mind  first  observes  particular  Deduction 
and  typical  instances  and  then  reaches  an  inference,  Contrasted- 
as  when  the  chemist,  having  observed  that  some  metals 
are  elements,  concludes  that  all  metals  are  elements,  The  instance 
or  when  the  plain  man,  having  seen  many  black  crows,  Principle  as 
concludes  that  all  crows  are  black.     Its  principle  is  aBegmmn&- 
that  what  is  true  of  some  members  of  a  class  is  true 
of  all  members  of  that  class.     Of  course  in  the  appli- 
cation of  this  principle  induction  often  makes  mistakes, 
to  be  corrected  by  later  observation.     In  deduction,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  mind  first  draws  a  particular  con- 
clusion  from   some   general   principle   with   which   it 
starts,  and  then  observes  whether  its  conclusion  is  true, 
or  ought  so  to  do,  as  when  we  conclude  that  copper  is 
N  177 


178    The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Formulation 

vs. 
Explication. 


Part 

vs. 

Whole  as  a 
Beginning. 


Probability 

vs. 
Certainty. 


an  element  because  it  is  a  metal  and  all  metals  are 
elements,  or  when  the  plain  man  expects  that  the 
crow  he  hears  but  does  not  see  will  be  black  when  he 
catches  sight  of  him  because  all  crows  are.  black.  In 
induction,  first  observe,  then  conclude;  in  deduction, 
first  conclude,  then  observe. 

Second,  induction  leads  to  the  formulation  of  prin- 
ciples, as  when  Socrates  by  induction  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  knowledge  is  virtue,  that  if  a  man  knew 
what  was  best  for  him,  he  would  do  it.  Deduction,  on 
the  other  hand,  leads  to  the  explication  of  principles, 
as  when  Socrates  concludes  further  and  in  harmony 
with  his  first  principle  that  no  man  is  voluntarily  wicked, 
but  that  the  wicked  are  ignorant.  Thus  induction 
defines;  deduction  illustrates. 

Third,  induction  moves  from  part  to  whole  of  a 
system  or  class  or  group,  as  when  the  scientist  from 
his  observations  of  many  mammals  tells  us  that  all 
mammals  are  vertebrates.  Deduction  moves  from  the 
whole  of  a  system,  class,  or  group  to  a  part  of  the  same, 
as  when,  from  the  previous  instance,  we  conclude  that 
the  whale  is  a  vertebrate,  knowing  it  is  a  mammal. 
Induction  is  from  the  individual  to  the  general ;  de- 
duction is  from  the  general  to  the  individual. 

Fourth,  induction,  having  a  number  of  particular 
observations  as  its  premises,  leaps  beyond  them  in  its 
general  conclusion,  as  in  the  statement,  "Every  human 
heart  is  human."  For  this  reason  induction  can  never 
give  us  more  than  a  high  degree  of  probability  in  its 
conclusion.  Deduction,  on  the  other  hand,  stays 
within  its  premises,  as  when  under  the  foregoing  princi- 


Teaching  to  Reason  179 

pie  one  concludes  that  the  criminal  has  a  human  heart. 
Thus  deduction,  if  its  premises  are  true,  attains  cer- 
tainty in  its  conclusion.  This  is  a  very  large  "if," 
however,  as  very  few  general  principles  are  above 
question  in  their  universal  application.  In  induction 
the  conclusion  is  larger,  in  deduction  smaller,  than  in 
the  premises. 

Fifth,  induction  through  its  observation  of  and  ex-  Discovery 
periment  upon  new  instances  is  the  method  whereby  proot 
knowledge  is  advanced.  Modern  science  in  its  advance- 
ment of  human  learning  dates,  for  example,  from  the 
"Novum  Organum"  (Induction)  of  Francis  Bacon. 
Deduction,  on  the  other  hand,  uses  the  knowledge  that 
has  been  attained  in  concluding  concerning  particular 
instances;  it  arranges  and  systematizes  all  things 
according  to  genera,  species,  and  individuals.  Ancient 
science,  for  example,  ended  with  Aristotle's  "Organon" 
(Deduction);  and  the  Middle  Ages,  under  Aristotle's 
influence,  made  no  observations,  but  classified  all 
things.  Induction  is  the  logic  of  discovery ;  deduction 
is  the  logic  of  proof.  In  fairness  to  deduction  at  this 
point  it  must  be  observed  that,  after  induction  has 
begun  to  observe,  progress  in  discovery  is  most  rapid 
when  deduction  supplements  induction  at  every  point, 
anticipating  a  conclusion  which  observation  is  to  test. 

Sixth,  after  the  preceding  contrasts  it  will  not  now  T^6  End  of 

...  Induction  is 

be  surprising  to  say  that  induction  provides  the  general  the  Be- 
principles  with  which  deduction  starts.      At  this  point 
we  begin  to  feel  the  mutual  dependence  of  induction 
and  deduction,  and  the  unity  of  the  reasoning  process. 
If  Aristotle  had  not  been  such  a  wide  observer  and  had 


1 80     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Formation 

vs. 

Application 
of  Habits. 


4 


not  thus  provided  his  successors  with  so  many  general 
principles,  the  Middle  Age  period  of  deduction  would 
have  been  shorter.  Induction  is  the  beginning  of 
the  process  of  knowledge  which  deduction  concludes. 
Dogmatic  minds,  trusting  to  the  perfection  of  the 
deductive  syllogism,  tend  to  forget  that  their  major 
premises  are  all  inductive  conclusions  and  are  thus 
tinged  with  the  element  of  probability.  We  still  live, 
even  in  rational  matters,  by  faith,  not  sight. 

Seventh,  and  finally,  inductions  are  our  mental 
habits  in  process  of  formation;  deductions  are  our 
mental  habits  in  process  of  application.  Our  mental 
experience  is  a  unitary  process  in  which  we  are  con- 
stantly both  building  up  new  general  principles  for 
ourselves  and  applying  those  already  built  up.  The 
new  element  coming  into  experience  modifies  the  old; 
the  old  element  already  in  experience  modifies  the  new. 
Induction  is  the  influence  of  the  new  on  the  old;  de- 
duction is  the  influence  of  the  old  on  the  new.  Thus 
we  reach  the  conclusion  that  though  there  are  many 
and  striking  contrasts  between  induction  and  deduc- 
tion, at  bottom  our  reasoning  process  is  a  unity.  If 
we  had  time  to  investigate  this  reasoning  process  itself, 
we  should  probably  discover  that  it  is  the  highest  and 
most  complex  means  at  the  disposition  of  the  intellect 
of  man  to  adjust  him  to  his  environment,  and  that  its 
essential  nature  consists  in  perceiving  the  relationship 
between  two  things  by  means  of  some  third  thing.  To 
tell  a  crying  child  to  "hush  up"  is  not  to  reason,  but, 
knowing  the  inability  of  his  attention  to  cover  many 
things  at  once,  to  engross  his  attention  with  something 


Teaching  to  Reason  181 

else  than  his  trouble  that  he  may  stop  crying  is  to 
reason. 

Turning  to  the  bearing  of  induction  and  deduction  The  Bearing 

.  of  Induction 

on  teaching,  several  things  are  to  be  noted.  In  the  and  De- 
first  place,  the  inductive  method  of  teaching  begins  £.uctl°n  on 
with  the  individual  and  the  concrete  and  moves  toward 
the  general  and  the  abstract :  the  deductive  method  of 
teaching  begins  with  the  general  and  the  abstract  and 
moves  toward  the  individual  and  the  concrete.  In 
short,  induction  first  illustrates  and  then  states  the  illustrations 
principle;  deduction  first  states  the  principle  and  then  Principles, 
illustrates.  This  very  paragraph,  for  instance,  is  pro- 
ceeding in  deductive  fashion.  Most  text-books  do  the 
same  way.  Perhaps  it  is  not  necessary  to  add  that, 
with  a  few  illustrious  exceptions,  like  Socrates  and 
Pestalozzi,  the  deductive  method  of  teaching  is  the  old 
way,  that  the  inductive  method  of  teaching,  so  far  as 
present  at  all,  is  the  new  way.  The  old  way  does  not 
need  to  be  illustrated.  The  new  way  would  be  illus- 
trated in  teaching  English  by  beginning  with  language, 
not  grammar;  in  Latin,  by  beginning  with  Caesar 
instead  of  a  grammar;  in  mathematics,  by  beginning 
with  examples  instead  of  rules ;  in  science,  by  beginning 
with  specimens  instead  of  classes ;  in  history,  by  begin- 
ning with  sources  instead  of  compendiums.  We  are 
not  yet  estimating  these  two  methods,  but  only  de- 
scribing their  bearing  on  teaching. 

Second,  induction  utilizes  the  acquisitive  powers  of  Acquisition 

t/J. 

the  mind,  like  observation  and  explanation ;  deduction  Reproduc- 
utilizes  the  reproductive  powers  of  the  mind,  like  memory  tion- 


1 82     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Learning 

vs. 

Teaching 
in  the  Race. 


Indepen- 
dence 
vs. 
Authority. 


The  Division 
of  Honors. 


and  application.  Induction  leads  the  pupil  to  inform 
himself;  deduction  informs  him.  The  pupil  who  in- 
forms himself  under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher  ap- 
preciates and  comprehends  principles  better  than  when 
he  is  informed  by  the  teacher;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
pupil  who  is  informed  by  the  teacher  has  a  larger  and 
more  rounded  attainment. 

Third,  induction  is  the  way  the  race  has  learned, 
and  so  when  used  by  the  teacher  requires  both  time 
and  patience.  Deduction  is  the  way  the  race  has 
usually  taught  its  children,  thus  very  quickly  putting 
them  abreast  of  the  learning  of  their  ancestors. 

Fourth,  induction  cultivates  the  sense  of  mental 
independence;  this  is  evident  in  the  radical  and  pro- 
gressive temperament  that  characterizes  scientists  as  a 
body.  Deduction  cultivates  the  sense  of  authority,  and 
mental  dependence  upon  it;  this  is  evident  in  the 
conservative  temperament  that  characterizes  religious 
institutions. 

It  is  very  evident  from  these  considerations  that  the 
honors  have  to  be  divided  between  the  inductive  and 
deductive  methods,  and  that,  in  conformity  with  the 
suggestion  about  the  unity  of  reasoning,  our  present 
problem  is  not  to  exclude  one  method  or  the  other,  but 
to  adjust  them  properly.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed 
by  the  further  observation  that  whether  we  are  reason- 
ing in  acquisition  or  in  application,  the  same  mental 
powers  are  necessary  for  efficiency,  viz.  the  presence 
in  consciousness  of  a  considerable  amount  of  usable 
knowledge,  the  power  to  analyze  the  situation  con- 
fronting consciousness  into  its  elements,  and  a  certain 


Teaching  to  Reason  183 

wisdom  in  selecting  that  element  which  will  lead  to  a 
conclusion;  "learning,"  analysis,  and  "sagacity"  make 
good  reasoners. 

Having  now  seen  the  contrasts  between  reasoning 
inductively  and  deductively,  and  the  bearing  of  the 
inductive  and  deductive  methods  on  teaching,  we  are 
ready  to  attempt  to  adjust  the  claims  of  each  method, 
and  to  make  certain  practical  suggestions  to  teachers  in 
cultivating  the  rationality  of  pupils. 

The  best  method  of  teaching  is  neither  the  inductive  Practical 
nor  the  deductive,  but  a  wise  combination  of  both.  f 
Indeed,  it  is  an  unpractical  abstraction  to  think  of 
using  either  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other.  As  Hegel  Use  Both 
combined  the  deduction  of  Aristotle  and  the  induction 
of  Bacon  in  his  unitary  science  of  logic,  as  the  modern 
psychologist  finds  reasoning  one  of  the  unitary  functions 
of  the  mind,  so  must  the  teacher  lead  his  pupils  both  to 
induce  and  to  deduce.  Our  teaching  cannot  all  be 
inductive,  —  it  would  take  too  long.  Induction  is  the 
slow  process  by  which  knowledge  in  the  race  is  accumu- 
lated ;  the  school  cannot  take  the  time  to  rediscover  all 
this  knowledge.  But  sufficient  examples  should  always 
be  given,  and  this  is  the  point  about  inductive  teach- 
ing, both  to  induce  the  principles  and  to  make  them 
clear.  Neither  can  our  teaching  all  be  deductive,  which 
would  lead  to  formality  and  barrenness,  as  in  the 
memoriter  processes  of  Jesuit  schools.  We  must  affirm 
with  Spencer,  "Children  should  be  told  as  little  as 
possible,  and  induced  to  discover  as  much  as  possible." 
But  sufficient  knowledge  should  be  attained,  and  this 


184     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


is  the  point  about  deductive  teaching,  to  put  the  pupil 
during  the  school  career  into  adjustment  with  the 
intellectual  acquisitions  of  his  race.  The  great  busi- 
ness of  the  universities  is  to  advance  knowledge;  the 
schools  must  content  themselves  with  the  wide  task  of 
disseminating  it  among  the  people.  In  short,  use  the 
inductive  method  in  schools  enough  to  make  knowledge 
vital  and  objective,  the  deductive  method  enough  to 
make  knowledge  systematic  and  comprehensive. 
Suit  the  in  general  it  is  true  that  all  subjects  in  the  curriculum 

Method  to  ,.,,.  -,•,-,  •,  ,  . 

the  Subject,  admit  of  being  taught  both  ways;  also  each  subject 
should  be  taught  to  some  extent  in  each  way.  Still,  it 
is  true  that  certain  groups  of  studies  lend  themselves 
naturally  to  one  method,  and  other  groups  to  the  other 
method.  The  physical  and  natural  sciences,  for  ex- 
ample, like  physics,  chemistry,  biology,  botany,  etc., 
absolutely  demand  that  main  emphasis  be  laid  upon 
the  inductive  method.  In  this  group  of  studies  to 
observe,  to  experiment,  to  explain,  to  see  and  handle 
things  face  to  face,  to  put  questions  to  nature,  are  all- 
important.  The  mathematical  sciences,  on  the  other 
hand,  continually  making  new  applications  of  old 
axioms  and  theorems,  easily  emphasize  the  deductive 
method.  The  thing  to  be  watched  here  is  that  the 
deductive  proof  of  a  theorem  is  understood  and  not 
memorized.  Other  groups  of  studies,  like  literature 
and  history,  seem  to  have  no  inherent  tendency  toward 
either  method;  they  have  usually  been  taught  de- 
ductively ;  they  need  to  be  taught  inductively  more. 

Regardless  of  the  specific  subject  taught,  it  is  im- 
portant near  the  conclusion  of  each  recitation  to  have 


Induce 
Principles. 


Teaching  to  Reason  185 

the  class  sum  up  in  the  form  of  an  induced  principle 
the  many  individual  points  of  the  lesson  covered. 
Induce  the  underlying  truth  of  every  lesson ;  end  by 
generalizing  the  new  material  that  has  been  presented 
point  by  point.  Here  induction  appears,  and  without 
it  the  significance  of  the  details  does  not  appear  and  the 
mind  is  left  in  confusion.  In  addition  to  clarification, 
induction  is  a  mental  economy,  as  it  is  able  to  say 
many  things  at  once. 
Along  with  this  principle  goes  the  other  one,  the  Make 

Applications. 

conclusion  just  induced  should  at  once  be  applied  to 
new  cases,  — to  new  examples  in  mathematics,  to  new 
sentences  in  grammar,  to  present  events  in  history,  etc. 
The  generalization  which  the  new  material  affords  must 
itself  be  applied.  The  habit  of  giving  out  problems  is  a 
fruitful  one  in  any  subject ;  it  means  the  application  cf 
knowledge  to  new  cases.  First  observe,  then  induce, 
then  deduce,  then  observe ;  this  is  the  big  circle  both  in 
reasoning  and  in  teaching. 
It  is  surprising  how  early  the  embryonic  powers  of  Dealing  with 

V      •  u  *u  i  •         1,-ij  -ru       the  Young 

reason  begin  to  show  themselves  in  children.  The 
"why"  of  things  interests  them  long  before  they  are  able 
to  understand,  often  to  the  exasperation  of  parents  and 
teachers.  It  becomes  a  real  question  how  to  deal  with 
the  earlier  signs  of  a  developing  reason.  Children  often 
want  to  know  what  they  cannot  understand.  What  are 
we  to  do?  Several  things.  Show  no  impatience  with 
the  instinct  of  curiosity,  it"  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  knowl- 
edge. Crowd  on  the  knowledge  in  reply  to  the  instinct 
as  rapidly  as  it  can  be  made  intelligible.  When  the 
limit  of  intelligibility  is  reached,  as  in  the  question, 


1 86     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

"Who  made  God?"  it  does  not  satisfy  the  child  to 
be  told  to  wait,  nor  does  it  satisfy  him  to  put  him  off 
with  a  foolish  answer,  such  as,  "I  don't  know — I  guess 
He  must  have  made  Himself,"  which  only  stimulates  the 
child's  mind  to  further  questioning  as  to  which  part  of 
Himself  He  made  first.  Rather,  on  the  verge  of  in- 
telligibility, give  your  best  answer  to  the  child,  "He  is 
eternal  and  unmade;"  the  interesting  thing  is  that, 
though  unintelligible  to  the  child,  it  is  emotionally 
satisfying,  the  eyes  open  wide  in  wonder,  and  the 
mind  turns  to  something  else.  A  child  three  years  old 
will  feel  a  reason  it  cannot  understand. 

Answer  then  the  child's  inquiries  sympathetically  and 
as  intelligibly  as  you  can.  Go  even  farther  and  ask 
him  some  questions  in  reply,  setting  easy  lines  of  in- 
quiry before  him.  Once  we  are  alive  to  our  surround- 
ings, it  is  surprising  how  many  questions  nature  is 
continually  suggesting  to  us,  that  we  may  suggest  to 
children  ready  for  them.  Why  does  the  sun  harden 
clay  and  soften  wax?  Why  does  cold  freeze  water? 
Why  is  ice  lighter  than  water?  Every  detail  of  our 
environment  is  significant  with  rationality.  It  permits 
us  to  stimulate,  as  well  as  to  satisfy,  the  child's  in- 
stinct for  truth.  The  curiosity  that  we  quell  at  seven 
we  shall  miss  and  want  at  fourteen. 

The  satisfaction  and  stimulation  of  the  instinct  of 
curiosity  in  children  must  not  be  confused  with  the 
child's  desire  to  evade  an  authoritative  command  by 
parleying  concerning  the  reason.  Here  it  is  enough 
that  the  parent  or  teacher  has  spoken.  To  discuss  the 
rationality  of  obedience  is  not  within  the  province  of 


Teaching  to  Reason  187 

children.  At  this  point  the  word  of  George  Eliot  is 
permanent,  "Reason  about  everything  with  your  child, 
you  make  him  a  monster,  without  reverence,  without 
affections." 

As  a  last  suggestion  to  teachers  in  connection  with  Study  Logic- 
reasoning,  I  should  like  to  refer  to  the  advantages 
coming  to  themselves  from  a  careful  study  of  inductive 
and  deductive  logic.1  Among  many  good  things  to 
result  from  such  a  study  may  be  mentioned  an  ac- 
quaintanceship with  the  reasoning  powers  of  con- 
sciousness, an  emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  clear 
thinking  to  oneself  and  before  others,  a  sense  of  the 
unity  of  all  truth  and  the  desire  so  to  present  it,  and 
also  a  working  familiarity  with  the  commonest  fallacies 
that  beset  the  reasoning  of  pupils,  teachers,  and  all 
mankind  alike.  Our  logical  processes  are  still  so 
slightly  developed  that  frequently  we  are  in  intellectual 
error  unawares,  frequently  too  we  are  unable  to  extricate 
ourselves  on  discovering  our  illogical  position,  and, 
worst  of  all,  such  intellectual  confusions  disturb  our 
sense  of  equanimity  no  whit.  We  ought  to  repent  of 
bad  thinking,  and  of  loving  ugly  art,  second  only  to 
selfish  conduct,  and,  having  repented,  to  gird  ourselves, 
through  logical  studies,  for  walking  in  the  strait  and 
narrow  way  of  correct  thinking. 

With  the  conclusion  of  reasoning  we  are  brought  to  Summary  of 

.  .  .  Intellectual 

the  end  of  our  discussion  of  intellectual  education.     A  Education. 
brief  survey  of  the  field  covered  shows  us  the  mind  at 
work    intellectually,    getting    sensations,    interpreting 

1  For  example,  Welton,  "The  Logical  Bases  of  Education." 


1 88     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

them  as  perceptions  of  individual  objects,  reacting 
upon  the  world  apperceptively  in  terms  of  acquired 
experience,  remembering  the  past,  imagining  both 
actual  and  ideal  forms,  conceiving  truth  in  generalized 
notions,  judging  concerning  reality,  and  reasoning  from 
part  to  whole  and  from  whole  to  part.  This  intellectual 
machine  of  man  is  wonderful  in  itself,  —  as  we  realize 
it  part  and  whole,  most  wonderful.  But  it  is  given  us, 
not  to  admire,  but  to  use.  The  motor-power  that  runs 
it  is  the  feelings,  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  runs,  a 
purpose  inherent  in  its  own  nature  and  in  which  our 
wills  concur,  is  to  attain  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
This  knowledge  6f  the  truth  is  an  increasing  intellectual 
adjustment  to  physical  and  mental  realities,  in  the 
light  of  which  our  choices  for  the  conduct  of  life  may 
be  wisely  made.  I  have  used  the  figure  of  a  machine 
to  cover  the  workings  of  the  intellect  of  man;  the 
figure  of  a  live  organism  would  have  been  more  apt,  an 
organism  that  develops  successively  its  ever  higher 
powers.  The  delicate  work  of  the  teacher,  requiring 
knowledge,  sympathy,  and  devotion,  is  to  stimulate 
the  growth  of  this  organism  into  its  fullest  realization. 
In  summary  at  this  point  we  may  say,  intellectual 
education  is  the  development  of  mental  capacity 
through  mental  action;  it  is  the  liberation  of  the 
human  powers  through  the  knowledge-getting  activi- 
ties. 

illustration.  As  an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  intellectual  educa- 
tion here  suggested,  I  will  append  the  following  quota- 
tion from  an  address,  unpublished  as  far  as  I  know,  by 
Rev.  Samuel  A,  Eliot :  — 


Teaching  to  Reason  189 

"  What  then,  in  a  word,  did  Harvard  do  for  Emerson  ? 
To  the  ancestral  faith  incarnate  in  his  blood,  to  the 
shrewd  Yankee  common  sense  he  inherited,  to  the 
New  England  conscience  which  was  his  birthright,  to 
the  training  of  a  godly  and  simple  home,  it  added  the 
education  which  does  not  consist  in  conning  text-books, 
but  in  a  widening  of  horizon,  an  enlarging  of  experience, 
a  deepening  of  purpose.  Harvard  taught  him  not  only 
facts,  but  what  facts  stand  for  and  represent  and  pre- 
dict. There  he  found  the  way  in  which  to  turn  sight 
into  insight.  He  discovered  how  to  understand  and 
master  circumstances  by  knowledge  and  obedience. 
His  education  was  no  formal  process.  Its  distinctive 
quality  may  be  said  to  have  been,  not  range  of  knowl- 
edge, but  vitality  of  knowledge,  not  scope,  but  depth,  not 
possession  of  information,  but  enlargement  of  view." 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Nature  of  Reasoning. 

2.  Do  Animals  Reason  ? 

3.  Is  Sense-perception  Unconscious  Inference? 

4.  Radicalism,  Conservatism,  and  Reasoning. 

REFERENCES  ON  REASONING 

Baldwin,  Senses  and  Intellect,  ch.  XV. 

Compayre*,  Psychology  Applied,  etc.,  ch.  VII. 

Cramer,  Talks  to  Students,  chs.  XVII,  XVIII,  XIX,  XX. 

Creighton,  Introductory  Logic,  ch.  XXIV. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  XII. 

Fitch,  Educational  Aims  and  Methods,  Lect.  IV. 

James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  ch.  XXII. 

James,  Briefer  Psychology,  ch.  XXII. 

Ladd,  Primer  of  Psychology,  ch.  X. 

Landon,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  etc.,  pp.  320-329. 


190     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Landon,  School  Management,  pp.  98-108. 

Laurie,  Institutes  of  Education,  Part  II,  Lect.  VIII. 

Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  293-296. 

Schaeffer,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think,  ch.  XVI. 

Sully,  Teachers'  Handbook,  etc.,  pp.  375-406. 

Welton,  Logical  Bases  of  Education,  chs.  V,  VI,  and  EX. 


PART   III 

EMOTIONAL   EDUCATION,    OR   EDUCATING 
THE   MIND   TO   FEEL 


INTRODUCTION 

IN  passing  through  feeling  on  our  way  from  intellect  The  Order 
to  will,  our  order  is  historical  and  conventional.  If  Discussion, 
the  order  of  our  discussion  took  its  cue  from  the  bio- 
logical development  of  body  and  mind,  perhaps  the 
feelings  would  have  come  first,  the  will  next,  and  then 
the  intellect.  But  since  consciousness  after  all  is  a 
unity  in  its  functioning,  the  question  of  the  order  of 
discussion  of  its  abstracted  phases  is  not  paramount, 
and  there  are  some  advantages  in  following  traditional 
usage.  In  the  famous  list  of  epithets  describing  edu- 
cation, viz.  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral,  I  simply 
want  to  succeed  in  inserting  emotional  between  "in- 
tellectual" and  "moral,"  and  adding  religious  to  the 
group  in  the  interest  of  a  worthy  completeness. 

It  is  the  aim  of  emotional  education  in  general  to  The  General 

3    .  Aim  of 

develop    the   mind's    capacity  to    feel;    especially    to  Emotional 
cultivate  a  certain  sensitiveness  to  the  best  things  in  B°Boal 
life.    The  supreme  ideal  to  which  feeling  can  attach 
itself  is  beauty.     On  the  way  to  beauty  many  are  the 
objects  about  which  feelings  cling,  and  for  the  final 
development  of  an  aesthetic  taste,  many  are  the  stages 
of  differentiation  in  the  life  of  feeling.     It  is  the  busi- 
ness of  emotional  education  to  follow  helpfully  all  the 
differentiations  of    the  life  of    feeling   as  they  attach 
themselves  to  various  objects  until  the  goal  is  reached 
in  appreciation  of  the  beautiful, 
o  193 


194     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

stages  in  the  The  psychologists  are  puzzled  when  it  comes  to 
Emotional  °  classifying  the  feelings ;  they  are  almost  as  badly  off 
Education.  when  it  is  a  question  of  showing  their  genetic  develop- 
ment. Indeed,  the  very  definition  of  feeling  is  some- 
thing of  a  quarrel,  and  there  is  also  no  agreement  as  to 
whether  consciousness  should  be  regarded  as  twofold, 
lumping  feeling  and  will,  or  threefold.  Where  such 
confusion  reigns,  I  have  tried  to  make  a  natural  and 
genetic  mode  of  attack  upon  this  most  attractive  field, 
beginning  with  an  attempt  to  describe  feelings;  then 
indicating  the  available  educational  ways  of  dealing 
with  them  in  general;  then  in  particular  considering 
the  elementary  feelings  of  the  pleasant  and  the  un- 
pleasant ;  then  the  complex  feelings,  both  of  the  coarser 
and  subtler  types,  using  as  instances  of  the  latter  the 
altruistic  and  the  aesthetic.  With  this  guiding  thread 
I  trust  no  reader  will  get  lost  in  what  at  best  is  some- 
what uncertain  territory. 


CHAPTER  XV 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE    FEELINGS 

IT  is  perhaps  true  that  the  feelings  represent  the  T116  Primacy 
deepest  strata  in  human  life.  They  seem  to  be  biologi- 
cally the  primordial  element  in  conscious  life.  In 
lower  animals,  in  primitive  man,  and  in  children,  the 
emotional  elements  seem  to  dominate  over  the  intel- 
lectual and  volitional.  The  nerve-centres  that  cor- 
respond to  the  feelings  develop  earlier  than  those  that 
correspond  to  rational  thought  and  deliberate  action, 
and  man  as  an  emotional  being  differs  less  from  chil- 
dren and  animals  than  as  an  intellectual  or  moral 
being.  It  is  not  that  sensations  and  reflexes  are  absent 
in  primitive  forms  of  life,  for  they  are  not ;  but  they 
seem  slower  in  passing  on  to  the  higher  types  of  thought 
and  action  than  do  likes  and  dislikes  in  passing  on  to 
complex  emotions.  This  primacy  of  feeling  refers  here 
to  their  early  development  in  the  race,  not  necessarily 
to  their  prepotent  influence  in  mature,  civilized  life. 
The  practical  bearing  of  this  primordial  character  of 
feeling  on  educating  indicates  the  necessity  of  including 
the  feelings  both  as  means  and  as  material  in  dealing  with 
young  life.  They  are  both  to  be  developed  themselves 
aright,  and  utilized  in  securing  study  and  worthy  conduct. 

The  importance  of  feeling  in  life,  both  young  and 

195 


196     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

old,  will  appear  from  a  series  of  considerations.  First, 
feeling  is  an  essential  element  of  consciousness ;  that  is, 
without  feeling,  no  consciousness.  The  element  of 
.feeling  may  be  uppermost  at  any  given  time,  or  it  may 
be  secondary  to  the  influence  of  ideas  or  choices,  but 
in  any  case  it  is  never  totally  lacking.  Though  there 
is  a  theory  that  the  original  consciousness  was  just  a 
feeling,  perhaps  of  comfort  or  more  likely  of  dis- 
comfort, and  the  paragraph  above  would  lend  weight 
to  this  view,  still  it  is  probably  true  that  no  state  of 
consciousness  to-day  is  just  feeling  and  nothing  else ; 
not  even  the  discomfort  of  the  dentist's  chair  is  divorced 
from  all  sensation  and  images  and  will.  To  call  feeling 
an  element  of  consciousness  means  it  is  always  present 
but  never  alone. 

Second,  the  feelings  give  values  to  life.  The  sense  of 
value,  of  importance,  of  worth,  is  a  feeling;  the  sense 
of  fact  or  truth  is  intellectual.  What  is  worth  while 
to  a  man  depends  on  the  attitude  of  his  feelings  toward 
the  things  in  question.  Life  itself  is  and  is  not  worth 
living  to  different  individuals.  As  Professor  Royce 
has  expressed  it,  "  If  we  look  for  a  simpler  criterion  of 
what  we  mean  by  feeling,  it  seems  worth  while  to  point 
out  that  by  feeling,  we  mean  simply  our  present  sensi- 
tiveness to  the  values  of  things  in  so  far  as  these  values 
are  directly  present  to  consciousness."  * 

Third,  it  is  a  defensible  position  that  the  feelings  are 
the  main,  though  not  the  only,  agency  in  producing  art 
and  religion.  Thought  is  there  to  direct,  will  is  there 
to  execute,  but  feeling  is  there  as  the  inspiring  dynamic. 

1  Royce,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  167  (italics  his). 


Description  of  the  Feelings  197 

Art  is  the  product  of  man's  feeling  for  the  perfect,  is 
the  union  of  his  ideal  and  the  real,  —  the  ideal  that 
would  satisfy  his  feelings  is  approximately  embodied 
in  some  real,  tangible,  or  sensuous  form.  Poetry,  as 
illustrating  the  arts,  Poe  somewhere  defines  as  "  the 
rhythmical  creation  of  beauty."  And  in  the  case  of 
religion,  the  great  Prussian  theologian  Schleiermacher 
has  been  followed  by  many  *  in  his  conclusion  that 
the  root  of  religion  is  in  the  feeling  of  man's  depend- 
ence (Abhangigkeitsgefuhl).  To  this  foundation  others 
would  add  the  aesthetic  feeling  as  also  elemental.  Of 
course,  the  trunk  and  branches  of  religion  are  thought 
and  action,  though  its  roots  be  feeling.  The  intimacy 
of  the  relationship  between  art  and  religion  as  grounded 
in  feeling  appears  in  the  consideration  that  when  "  the 
perfect "  for  which  man  longs  is  a  Person,  then  art 
becomes  religion. 
Fourth,  many  maintain  that  the  feelings  are  not  only  T*16  Great 

i«  •  •  i«i-i  i          i    *     Influence 

the  primordial  element  in  conscious  life  but  also  that  Of  Feeling, 
they  are  the  most  influential,  transcending  in  promi- 
nence both  rational  thought  and  deliberate  action.  The 
example  and  writings  of  Rousseau  and  George  Eliot 
and  the  romantic  movement  in  literature  might  be 
cited  as  illustrating  the  dominating  place  of  feeling  in 
life;  also  the  opinion  of  such  an  intellectual  type  of 
man  as  President  Eliot,  who  writes:  "The  world  is 
still  governed  by  sentiments,  and  not  by  observation, 
acquisition,  and  reasoning ;  and  national  greatness  and 
righteousness  depend  more  on  the  cultivation  of  right 

1  Cf.,  for  example,  Everett,  "Psychological  Elements  of  Religious 
Faith." 


198     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

sentiments  in  children  than  on  anything  else."  *  With- 
out committing  ourselves  fully  to  the  argument  that 
the  feelings  are  more  influential  than  reason  or  will, 
it  would  be  correct  to  say  that  without  feeling  we 
neither  learn  nor  achieve;  interest  leads  us  to  pursue 
truth,  and  desire  prompts  us  to  action. 

in  Future.  An^  fifth,  the  future  history  of  feeling  will  be  greater 
doubtless  than  its  past.  Only  late  in  the  history  of 
thinking  and  education  have  the  feelings  had  justice 
done  them.  Plato  made  the  feelings  subordinate  in 
dignity  to  the  reason,  as  the  soldiers  in  his  ideal  Re- 
public were  subordinate  to  the  philosophers.  Aristotle 
said  consciousness  was  composed  of  intellect  and  will, 
and  his  division  still  holds  good  to-day  for  such  men  as 
Herbart,  with  all  his  sweep  of  educational  influence, 
Schopenhauer,  Fechner,  and  Paulsen.  The  feelings 
first  received  independent  recognition  by  Tetens  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  whose  threefold  classification  of 
consciousness  into  knowing,  feeling,  and  willing  was 
made  popular  by  Immanuel  Kant  in  his  three  great 
Critiques,  who  is  followed  at  this  point  by  most,  though 
not  all,  of  our  contemporary  psychologists.  Educa- 
tionally, if  we  omit  the  attention  to  aesthetics  among 
the  Greeks,  the  feelings  were  practically  omitted  until 
interest  and  pleasure  appeared  in  the  schooling  of 
Emile  by  the  modem  apostle  of  feeling.  To-day  Presi- 
dent Hall  is  telling  us  that  as  the  education  of  the  past 
has  been  that  of  the  head,  so  the  education  of  the 
twentieth  century  will  be  that  of  the  heart.  The  in- 
creasing psychological  and  educational  recognition  of 

1  Eliot,  "The  School,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  1903. 


Description  of  the  Feelings  199 

feeling  in  historic  times  indicates  the  still  larger  r61e  it 
has  yet  to  play  in  life.1  The  revival  of  learning  needs 
to  be  supplemented  by  the  recognition  of  feeling,  and 
the  over-intellectualization  of  the  curriculum  needs  re- 
adjusting to  its  subnormal  emotionalism. 

When  we  pass  from  the  importance  of  feeling  to  its  The  Nature 

,.~      ,         TTT        ,  of  Feeling. 

nature,  our  task  is  more  difficult.  Wundt  says  the 
chapter  on  feeling  is  one  of  the  darkest  in  the  history 
of  psychology.  But  it  is  necessary  to  do  what  we  can 
to  understand  feeling  before  attempting  to  regard  it 
educationally. 

We  usually  think  when  we  can  define  a  thing  we  indefinable, 
understand  it.  But  our  ability  to  understand  feeling 
does  not  depend  on  our  ability  to  define  it.  In  fact, 
an  adequate  definition  of  feeling  is  impossible;  a 
feeling  is  an  experience  to  which  words  cannot  do  full 
justice.  He  who  has  been  anxious,  or  joyous,  or  sur- 
prised, knows  these  feelings;  he  who  has  never  been 
so  cannot  be  told  what  it  is  to  be  so. 

However,  a  working,  though  inadequate,  definition  A  Working 
of  feeling  is  possible.  Thus  we  may  say,  feeling  is 
the  attitude  of  consciousness  toward  thought  or  action. 
The  thought  that  Vamour  propre  is  the  prime  motive 
of  man,  as  Larochefoucauld  said,  or  that  our  choices 
are  predetermined  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
as  Jonathan  Edwards  held,  may  excite  within  us  feelings 
of  antagonism ;  or,  the  act  of  a  Guiteau  or  Czolgocz 
may  arouse  within  us  feelings  of  indignation.  Some 

1  Cf.   the  conclusions  of  Stanley,   "Evolutionary  Psychology  of 
Feeling." 


2OO     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


In  Individ- 
uality. 


Variability. 


thoughts  and  acts  please,  attract,  delight,  satisfy  us; 
others  displease,  repel,  sadden,  or  discomfort  us;  or 
the  totality  of  the  person  as  manifested  through  his 
thoughts  and  acts  may  excite  within  us  affection  or 
disgust.  A  more  technical,  though  negative,  definition 
of  feeling  is,  "consciousness  as  experiencing  modifica- 
tions abstracted  from  (i)  the  determination  of  objects 
and  (2)  the  determination  of  action."  1 

We  approach  closest  to  the  nature  of  feeling  perhaps 
when  we  observe  the  inmost  place  it  occupies  hi  our 
individuality,  closer  to  us  even  than  our  very  thoughts 
or  deeds ;  for  our  thoughts  may  be  communicated,  our 
deeds  seen,  but  nobody  can  ever  know  exactly  how  we 
feel.  Here  we  are  in  our  individuality,  inaccessible  to 
dearest  friend  and  foe  alike.  They  may  imagine  our 
feeling,  they  may  have  similar  feelings;  they  do  not 
feel  our  feeling.  Baldwin  somewhere  writes,  "You 
can  know  what  I  know  and  you  can  will  what  I  will, 
but  you  cannot  by  any  possibility  feel  what  I  feel; 
this  is  subjectivity,  this  peculiar  and  unapproachable 
isolation  of  one  consciousness  from  another."  A 
man's  feeling  is  his  soul's  barometer,  telling  his  condi- 
tion more  nearly  than  either  his  thought  or  his  deed. 
The  feeling  of  anger  is  murderous,  the  feeling  of  kind- 
ness is  saving. 

If  feeling  be  the  attitude  of  consciousness  toward 
ideas  and  acts,  it  will  not  surprise  us  to  observe  that  it 
is  further  the  nature  of  feeling  to  change  its  character 
through  the  influence  of  new  ideas  and  new  acts.  You 

1  Baldwin's  "Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology,"  article 
"Feeling." 


Description  of  the  Feelings  201 

have  a  feeling  of  antipathy  for  a  certain  person.  Sup- 
pose you  incidentally  learn  he  has  shown  his  good  will 
by  rendering  you  a  favor.  Your  feeling  of  antagonism 
begins  to  weaken.  Or,  you  have  a  feeling  of  indiffer- 
ence toward  a  certain  philanthropic  cause.  You  are 
induced  either  to  inquire  into  it  or  to  render  it  some 
support.  Perhaps  a  genuine  interest  supplants  the 
original  indifference.  This  characteristic  of  feeling  is 
evidently  the  handle  educators  are  to  seize,  —  to  get 
hold  of  feelings,  supply  new  ideas,  and  secure  some 
responsive  action. 

And,  contrary  to  general  impression,  it  is  the  nature  Slowness  of 
of  feeling  to  move  more  slowly  than  either  ideas  or 
choices.  Ideas  must  change,  or  actions,  or  both, 
before  feeling  changes.  Often  it  takes  many  new 
ideas  to  dislodge  a  feeling  of  prejudice  against  a  member 
of  another  race  or  a  person  in  another  social  position. 
A  feeling  of  conviction  on  a  question  at  issue  once 
reached,  many  and  unanswerable  arguments  on  the 
other  side  may  not  suffice  to  change  it,  —  we  are  "of 
the  same  opinion  still."  Or,  after  long  deliberation,  a 
man  makes  a  momentous  choice,  involving  the  future 
of  self  and  friends.  About  this  choice,  like  vines  about 
a  tree,  the  feelings  of  his  after  life  grow  up,  sometimes 
sapping  its  strength,  always  finding  their  support  in  it. 
All  of  which  goes  to  show  feelings  are  deep  down  in 
our  natures,  clinging  to  old  ideas  and  habits,  slow  to 
move,  and,  being  moved,  ready  to  root  themselves  again 
into  the  very  fibres  of  our  being. 

The  description  of  the  feelings  would  be  essentially 


202     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

The  Kinds  of  incomplete  without  an  attempt  at  the  analysis  and 
classification  of  feeling.  To  describe  in  psychology  is 
always  to  analyze.  When  we  begin  to  analyze  and 
classify  the  feelings,  we  find  here  a  vast  complex  wealth 
of  emotional  material,  not  subject  as  yet  to  the  definite 
.  groupings  possible  in  the  region  of  the  intellect,  where 
the  best  psychologists  are  in  disagreement,  and  where, 
consequently,  all  divisions  are  somewhat  arbitrary. 
However,  divide  we  must,  to  conquer  this  complicated 
realm. 

Elementary        The  simplest  distinction  to  draw  is  that  between 

piex.  elementary  and  complex  feelings.  The  elementary 

feelings  are  those  that  we  get  through  the  analysis  of 

The  Eiemen-  feeima  into  its  lowest  constituents,  just  as  we  get  sodium 

tary  Feelings.  '  J 

and  chlorine  as  the  elements  of  common  salt.  Now, 
the  one  thing  on  which  all  the  psychologists  agree  is 
that  the  sense  of  the  pleasant  and  unpleasant  are  ele- 
mentary feelings,  simple,  ultimate,  not  capable  of 
further  analysis.  The  best  we  can  do  here  is  to  use 
synonyms  and  say  the  pleasant  is  that  which  has  a 
certain  sense  of  attractiveness  for  consciousness,  and 
the  unpleasant  is  that  which  has  a  certain  sense  of 
repulsion  for  consciousness.  We  are  not  defining,  but 
illustrating  the  impossibility  of  definition.  The  pleasant 
and  unpleasant  are  ultimate  feeling-tones  of  conscious- 
ness. The  sense  of  the  unpleasant,  the  disagreeable, 
the  discomforting,  the  repellent,  which  is  a  feeling, 
must  not  be  confused  with  physical  pain,  which  is  a 
sensation.  A  feeling  originates  in  the  attitudes  of 
consciousness;  a  sensation  originates  in  a  stimulus 
affecting  some  sense-organ.  It  is  thus  incorrect  to 


Description  of  the  Feelings  203 

refer  to  pleasure  and  pain  as  the  two  elementary  feel- 
ings; the  elementary  feelings  are  at  least  the  pleasant 
and  unpleasant  affective  tone  of  consciousness.  It  is 
correct,  however,  to  observe  that  the  sensation  of  pain 
normally  arouses  the  elementary  feeling  of  displeasure 
or  the  unpleasant.  Into  the  additions  to  these  ele- 
mentary feelings  made  by  Wundt  and  Royce  we  need 
not  go  as  beside  our  practical  purpose,  but  the  in- 
terested reader  is  referred  to  the  literature  of  the 
subject.1 
The  complex  feelings  are  the  emotions,  that  is,  they  The 

J     Complex 

are  feelings  complicated  with  sensations,  ideas,  images,   Feelings, 
and  tendencies  to  action.     They  are  the  elementary 
feelings  shot  through  with  the  influences  of  thoughts 
and   deeds.     The   physical   organism   furnishes   those 
sensational  reports  so  constitutive  of  the  character  of 
an  emotion.     Indeed,  we  may  serviceably  divide  the 
emotions  according  to  the  extent  to  which  the  bodily 
expression  of  the  emotion  is  a  conspicuous  part  of  it. 
The  coarser  emotions,  like  fear,  anger,  hate,  joy,  grief,  The  Coarser 
jealousy,  love,  are  those  in  which  the  physiological  ex-  Emotions, 
pressions  are  prominent;   the  finer  emotions,  like  self- 
respect,  sympathy,  wonder,  and  the  aesthetic,  moral, 
and  religious  sentiments,  are  those  in  which  the  physi- 
ological   expression    is    an    almost,    but    not    quite, 
negligible  quantity. 
Thus,  in  sum,  we  have  analyzed  the  feelings,  first,  Summary  of 

«         ,  ,  '  1*1  Kinds  of 

into  the  elementary  and  complex ;    and  again,  the  com-  Feeling. 
plex   feelings   themselves   into   the   coarser  and   finer 

1  Wundt,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  pp.  74-90;  Royce, "  Outlines  of 
Psychology,"  pp.  176-19;  cf.also  Angell,  "Psychology,"  pp.  258-259. 


204     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Growth 
of  Feeling. 


Stages  of 
Growth. 


The  Egoistic 
Feelings. 


emotions.  This  picture  of  the  kinds  of  feelings,  from 
simplest  pleasure  to  highest  sentiment,  will  serve  us 
practically  when  we  come  presently  to  consider  the 
educator's  way  of  dealing  with  each  type  of  feeling. 

In  the  description  of  the  feelings  but  one  point  re- 
mains to  be  considered  before  we  are  ready  to  treat 
them  pedagogically.  We  should  like  to  know  the  order 
in  which  the  feelings  naturally  develop  from  childhood, 
through  youth,  up  to  maturity.  This  is  the  genetic 
account  of  feeling,  a  point  of  view  introduced  into 
psychology  largely  through  the  influence  of  the  bio- 
logical sciences,  and  wonderfully  helpful  to  the  teacher 
who  would  fall  in  with  nature's  ways  of  working. 

The  stages  in  the  development  of  feeling  differ  from 
each  other  according  to  the  object,  whether  idea,  act, 
or  person,  to  which  the  feelings  attach  themselves.  In 
childhood,  the  feelings  centre  about  the  self;  in  early 
adolescence,  about  other  selves ;  in  late  adolescence  and 
maturity,  about  certain  ideals.  Thus  as  the  individual 
develops  we  have  in  succession  the  egoistic  feelings,  the 
altruistic  feelings,  and  the  ideal  feelings. 

The  egoistic  feelings  are  those  that  attach  to  the 
self  as  object.  Examples  would  be  the  love  of  self,  of 
pleasure,  and  possession,  pride  and  vanity,  fear,  anger, 
joy,  and  grief.  The  child  is  not  a  conscious  egotist,  he 
is  an  instinctive  egoist.  The  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion which  lies  so  deeply  in  the  past  of  the  race  and  in 
its  present  nervous  system  wells  up  spontaneously  in 
the  child's  deeds.  He  is  not  to  be  censured,  but  to  be 
understood.  His  apparent  selfishness,  crying  aloud  in 


Description  of  the  Feelings  205 

need  and  crowing  with  satisfaction,  is  nature's  way  of 
calling  the  attention  of  his  elders  to  him.  The  great 
pedagogic  thing  to  do  here  is  to  secure  transition  to  the 
second  stage  and  so  prevent  what  is  really  selfness  be- 
coming selfishness.  This  problem  we  must  attack  in 
a  later  chapter  (ch.  XIX).  Here  it  is  only  to  be  noted 
that  it  is  life  in  society  that  permits  egoism  to  be  sub- 
limated in  altruism. 
The  altruistic  feelings  are  those  that  attach  to  other  1>he 

....  .    Altruistic 

selves  as  their  object.  Examples  would  be  love  and  Feelings, 
hate,  friendship,  respect,  sympathy,  emulation,  patriot- 
ism, where  the  object  is  one's  country,  viewed  as  the 
nation's  self.  Since  Aristotle  pointed  out  that  man  is 
by  nature  a  dweller  in  cities,  the  social  disposition  of 
man  has  been  recognized,  though  only  negatively  in 
the  social  contract  theories  of  the  eighteenth  and  earlier 
centuries.  The  right  utilization  of  life  in  society 
brings  the  egoism  of  the  child  into  the  altruism  of  the 
youth.  The  personality  is  widened  to  include  other 
selves.  Not  so  much  that  the  self  is  forgotten,  as  that 
others  are  remembered.  With  the  development  of 
rational  thought  in  adolescence,  the  youth  becomes 
conscious  of  certain  ideals  toward  which  his  feelings 
now  reach  out  in  aspiration. 
The  ideal  feelings  are  those  that  attach  to  certain  Thc  Ideal 

•  i     •        i  •  .11.  .1  Feelings. 

ideals  as  their  objects.  An  ideal  is  an  idea  pursued 
as  an  object,  it  is  that  unattainable  object  whose  pur- 
suit is  in  itself  satisfying.  The  ideals  of  man,  in  view 
of  his  threefold  nature  in  unity,  are  truth,  beauty, 
goodness,  and  God :  truth  for  his  intellect,  beauty  for 
his  feelings,  goodness  for  his  will,  and  God  for  himself 


206     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

as  a  unit.  Toward  each  of  these  ideals  man  in  later 
youth  and  maturity  develops  certain  feelings,  the  ideal 
feelings,  sometimes  called  the  sentiments.  Their  list 
includes  the  intellectual  feeling,  in  its  various  forms  of 
ignorance,  wonder,  curiosity,  interest,  surprise,  and  love 
of  truth ;  the  aesthetic  feeling,  as  related  to  the  beautiful, 
the  sublime,  and  the  ridiculous;  the  ethical  feeling,  or 
the  love  of  the  ideal  of  goodness,  which  is  inseparable 
in  its  development  from  the  altruistic  feelings ;  and  the 
religious  feeling,  the  sense  of  dependence  on,  and  trust 
in,  divinity,  a  feeling  also  intimately  connected  with  the 
altruistic  feelings,  for  God  is  the  Ideal  Self  and  "the 
Great  Companion." 

The  These  three   stages  in  the  development  of  feeling 

onhe'Eariier  stan(^  to  eacn  other  like  a  series  of  concentric  circles, 
stages.  each  one  larger  than  the  last.  In  becoming  altruistic, 
the  youth  carries  his  egoism  along  with  him,  but  it  is 
absorbed  in  the  higher  stage;  so  in  coming  under  the 
influence  of  the  ideals,  he  brings  along  with  him  both 
his  egoism  and  his  altruism,  only  they  are  felt  and  seen 
in  their  true  perspective  and  real  relationships.  The 
later  extension  of  personality  absorbs  the  truth 
that  was  in  the  earlier  immature  stage  of  growth. 
It  is  the  problem  and  the  privilege  of  the  teacher 
to  see  that  the  pupils  are  issued  in  nature's  stately 
procession  into  wider  and  ever  wider  regions  of  the 
Self. 

To  assist  him  in  so  doing,  so  far  as  the  life  of  feeling 
is  concerned,  we  must  now  turn  to  those  general 
principles  which  must  serve  as  the  beacon  lights  of  his 
practice. 


Description  of  the  Feelings  207 


PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Ultimate  Aspects  of  Consciousness. 

2.  The  Elementary  Feelings. 

3.  The  Psychological  Explanation  of  Feeling. 

4.  The  Decay  of  the  Emotional  Life. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  DESCRIPTION  OF  FEELINGS 

Baldwin,  Feeling  and  Will,  ch.  V,  and  pp.  186-194. 

Calkins,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  chs.  IX  and  XX. 

Dewey,  Psychology,  ch.  XIV. 

Ladd,  Outlines  of  Physiological  Psychology,  pp.  381-391. 

Ribot,  Psychology  of  the  Emotions,  ch.  X. 

Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  163-184. 

Spencer,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  Part  IX,  ch.  DC 

Stanley,  Evolutionary  Psychology  of  Feeling,  ch.  XVII. 

Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  pp.  284-311. 

Titchener,  A  Primer  of  Psychology,  ch.  XII. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

PRINCIPLES   OF  EDUCATING   THE   FEELINGS 

HAVING  just  described  the  complex  wealth  of  feel- 
ings as  a  whole,  we  must  now  undertake  to  state  those 
general  principles  which  are  to  guide  us  in  educating 
them. 

First  and  deepest  of  all  is  the  principle  that  the  feel- 
ings must  be  reached  indirectly  through  ideas  and 
action.  There  is  no  direct  cultivation  of  a  feeling; 
it  cannot  be  approached  immediately.  Like  the  vine 
to  its  trellis,  the  feeling  grows  up  about  some  strong 
idea  lodged  in  consciousness,  or  some  noble  deed  of 
conduct.  Think  the  thought,  good  or  bad,  do  the 
deed,  right  or  wrong:  and  the  feeling  appropriate  to 
it  is  aroused.  Passions  are  generated  through  their 
exciting  ideas ;  emotions  tread  on  the  heels  of  signifi- 
cant deeds.  Anthony  enrages  the  Roman  populace 
with  his  deftly  suggested  ideas;  their  own  deeds  of 
violence  and  rapine  once  begun,  their  fury  is  an  infat- 
uation until  exhausted  upon  its  object.  To  secure  a 
desirable  feeling,  give  the  fitting  idea  and  secure  the 
associated  act. 

To  be  specific,  the  young  child  with  whom  we  start 
is  selfish,  thinking  more  of  meum  than  tuum.  As  he 
grows,  we  desire  that  he  shall  have  increasing  regard 
for  other  worthy  interests  than  his  own,  until  indeed 

ao8 


Principles  of  Educating  the  Feelings      209 

he  first  shares,  then  shares  alike,  then  shares  with 
many.  How  shall  we  assist  him  to  outgrow  his  natural 
selfishness?  Only  by  securing  from  him  those  definite 
deeds  that  mean  regard  for  others,  only  by  suggesting 
those  ideas  that  mean  the  recognition  of  others.  Home, 
friends,  town,  state,  country,  these  are  ever  present 
objects  to  which  we  must  secure  specific  deeds  of  ser- 
vice and  concerning  which  we  must  instill  attractive 
ideas. 
From  the  statement  and  illustration  of  this  principle,  T^6  Unity  oi 

..          ..  i  .  i          .  r    i        r     T  Education. 

it  is  evident  that  there  is  no  education  of  the  feelings 
apart  from  the  education  of  the  intellect  and  the  edu- 
cation of  the  will.  It  is  through  the  ideas  of  the  intel- 
lect and  the  acts  of  the  will  that  the  desirable  states 
of  feeling  are  secured.  The  consciousness  that  we 
educate  is  a  unity ;  the  means  that  we  use  in  educating 
are  a  unity;  and  the  education  that  we  secure  is  a 
unity.  The  high  thinker  and  pure  actor  have  fine 
feelings. 
In  view  of  this  educational  unity,  we  recognize  The  Aim  of 

i  i.  Emotional 

clearly  the  aim  of  all  education  of  the  feelings,  viz.  to  Education, 
develop  such  feelings  as  will  stimulate  the  intellect, 
motivate  the  will,  and  appreciate  the  beautiful;  the 
great  feeling  that  stimulates  the  intellect,  lying  at  the 
basis  of  all  scientific  investigation,  is  the  love  of  truth. 
The  great  feeling  that  motivates  the  will,  keeping  it 
steady  and  true  in  the  midst  of  all  trying  and  unworthy 
solicitations,  is  the  honest  love  of  right.  The  culti- 
vation of  the  feelings  that  can  appreciate  the  beautiful, 
that  can  sense  the  perfect  in  nature  and  art,  is  the 
choicest  task  set  the  educator  of  the  feelings. 


2io     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

An  Error  to  An  error  to  be  avoided  is  talking  to  our  pupils  about 
the  feelings  they  ought  to  have,  e.g.  interest  in  their 
studies,  instead  of  bringing  those  conditions  about 
that  will  produce  the  desired  feeling.  From  the  very 
nature  of  a  feeling,  it  cannot  be  gotten  by  describing 
it.  In  fact,  since  it  is  an  ultimate  constituent  of  con- 
sciousness, a  feeling  cannot  really  be  described.  Our 
pupils  must  be  made  to  feel  feelings,  through  true  and 
vivid  ideas  and  right  action,  and  not  hear  inadequate 
descriptions  of  them. 

Secure  Right  Whenever  a  feeling  is  once  present,  whether  aroused 
sionsofXpr  instinctively  or  by  the  teacher's  art,  the  natural  thing 
Feeimg.  js  for  if-  to  express  itself  in  some  way  through  the  motor 
channels  of  the  nervous  system.  Here  the  great  achieve- 
ment for  the  teacher  is  to  effect  right  motor  expressions, 
to  couple  the  strong  emotions  particularly  with  ser- 
viceable outlets.  To  fail  to  do  so  is  to  let  the  emotion 
evaporate,  and  so  to  weaken  it  as  a  future  dynamic; 
or  else  to  let  it  run  out  in  unworthy  channels,  and  so 
tend  to  give  a  wrong  set  to  the  nervous  system.  It  is 
especially  desirable  that  great  first  emotional  expe- 
riences coming  upon  children  and  youth  should  at  once 
be  drafted  off  into  correct  motor  expressions.  "The 
laws  of  brain-habit  determine  the  principle  that  when 
experiences  are  keen  and  novel,  any  reaction  then 
accomplished  determines  the  brain's  whole  future  to 
a  degree  never  later  equalled  by  other  actions  of  the 
same  sort  and  number."  l 
The  Danger  The  teacher  who  is  successful  in  stimulating  and 

of  Emotion-  . 

aiism.  arousing  the  emotional  life  must  beware  of  overdoing 

1  Royce,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  345. 


Principles  of  Educating  the  Feelings      21 1 

it.  Too  much  feeling  disturbs  clear  thinking,  judg- 
ment, and  reasoning,  and  makes  character  unreliable. 
Proportion  must  be  maintained  between  rationality, 
action,  and  emotion.  It  is  not  desirable  to  disengage 
a  larger  amount  of  emotion  than  will  serve  our  pur- 
pose, viz.  to  keep  the  mind  studiously  occupied  and 
the  conduct  constantly  considerate.  Waves  of  emo- 
tion that  dethrone  thought  and  overstimulate  uncon- 
sidered  action  we  need  both  to  avoid  in  ourselves  and 
to  discourage  in  others.  This  caution  is  particu- 
larly necessary  to  heed  in  dealing  with  those  pupils 
whose  individual  variations  are  in  the  direction  of 
the  strongly  emotional  type.  With  the  anaemic  type, 
the  naturally  weak  emotional  natures,  those  colorless 
characters  without  either  love  or  hate  in  their  consti- 
tutions, we  may  put  no  check  on  our  effort  to  make 
life  to  these  a  more  animating  affair. 

What  agencies  does  the  curriculum  afford  us  hi  edu-  T*16  Use 
eating  the  feelings  through  the  instillation  of  moving  curriculum, 
ideas?  Our  most  effective  instruments  are  art,  litera- 
ture, and  history,  though  indeed  we  must  think  of 
no  study  as  devoid  of  emotional  interest.  History, 
particularly  when  taught  to  young  adolescents,  should 
develop  feelings  of  admiration  for  heroes,  of  disap- 
proval of  self-seekers,  and  of  love  of  country.  It 
would  illuminate  the  problem  of  any  teacher  to  secure 
from  his  pupils  a  list  of  their  ideal  heroes.  Why  not 
do  it  ?  Added  force  is  given  the  feelings  of  admiration 
and  disapproval  just  mentioned  when  they  centre  about 
conspicuous  contemporary  figures,  rather  than  those 
of  some  remote  past.  Literature  should  develop  a 


212     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Regard  the 
Physical. 


The  Conta- 
gion of 
Feeling. 


loving  appreciation  of  noble  thoughts  and  a  sense 
for  their  fitting  expression,  —  thoughts  which,  cher- 
ished in  memory,  shall  guide  us  like  stars  in  the  dark- 
ness of  night.  And  art  in  its  many  forms  should  first 
abash  us,  making  us  feel  our  ignorance  and  inca- 
pacity, and  then  lift  us  into  pure  enjoyment  of  the 
beautiful  and  the  perfect. 

In  enumerating  these  general  principles  of  educat- 
ing the  feelings,  the  subtle  and  elusive  feelings,  it 
would  be  the  mistake  of  an  unpractical  idealist  to 
omit  regard  for  the  physical  basis  of  the  emotional 
life.  We  want  brave,  courageous,  heroic,  hopeful, 
optimistic,  joyous  pupils;  we  cannot  have  them  on 
bad  air,  cold  rooms,  poor  food,  scanty  clothing,  and 
lost  sleep.  No  study  of  pessimistic  authors  is  ade- 
quate apart  from  their  health  conditions,  and  that 
soul  is  cast  in  a  heavenly  mould  that,  like  Stevenson, 
can  pray  in  physical  languishment  for  "courage  and 
gayety  and  the  quiet  mind."  The  element  of  truth 
in  the  working  hypothesis  of  modern  physiological 
psychology,  that  brain  states  condition  mental  states, 
demands  that  the  sound  body  house  the  sound  emotion. 

And  finally,  in  these  principles,  rely  upon  the  force 
of  example  and  imitation.  Show  the  feelings  you 
desire  to  develop,  but  do  not  show  them  unless  you 
feel  them.  "Assume  a  virtue  if  you  have  it  not,"  as 
Hamlet  said  to  the  Queen,  is  no  maxim  for  the  teacher. 
No  eyes  so  quick  to  detect  your  feigning  as  your  pupils', 
and  once  detected,  farewell  to  influence.  But  really 
to  have  and  to  show  feeling  upon  significant  occa- 
sions is  a  sure  way  to  elicit  emotional  responses  from 


Principles  of  Educating  the  Feelings      213 

pupils.  Nothing  is  more  contagious  than  a  feeling. 
As  quick  as  an  electric  shock,  the  schoolroom  vibrates 
with  meaningful  changes  in  the  teacher's  mood.  From 
grave  to  gay,  from  gloom  to  cheer,  from  righteous  in- 
dignation to  pleasurable  enterprise,  the  teacher's  feel- 
ing is  the  pupil's  feeling. 
Let  us  not  underestimate  the  permanence  of  our  The  Good  oi 

Sentiment. 

service  and  the  quality  of  our  opportunity  in  culti- 
vating a  strong,  inspiring  emotional  life  in  the  youth 
of  the  land.  As  President  Eliot  has  written,  "The 
world  is  still  governed  by  sentiments,  and  not  by  ob- 
servation, acquisition,  and  reasoning;  and  national 
greatness  and  righteousness  depend  more  on  the  cul- 
tivation of  right  sentiments  hi  the  children  than  on 
anything  else.  .  .  .  Now,  the  sentiments  which  Amer- 
ican schools  ought  to  cherish  and  inculate  are  family 
love,  respect  for  law  and  public  order,  love  of  freedom, 
and  reverence  for  truth  and  righteousness."  l 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Romanticism  in  Literature. 

2.  Emotionalism  in  Religion. 

3.  Feeling  in  Art. 

REFERENCES  ON  EDUCATING  THE  FEELINGS 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  52-120. 

Compayre',  Psychology  applied  to  Education,  ch.  XII. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  chs.  XVIII 

and  XIX. 
Harris,  Psychologic  Foundations  of  Education,  chs.  XXII  and 

XXXVIII. 
Holman,  Education,  pp.  56-63,  160-172,  193-197. 

1  C.  W.  Eliot,  "The  School,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  1903. 


214     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Landon,  School  Management,  Part  III. 

Morgan,  Psychology  for  Teachers,  pp.  145-149. 

James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  ch.  VII. 

James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  ch.  XXV. 

Johonnot,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  ch.  XII. 

Oppenheim,  Mental  Growth  and  Control,  ch.  X. 

Laughlin,  The  Moral  Value  of  Art  Education,  Proc.  N.  E.  A., 

1890,  p.  141  and  seq. 

Ribot,  Psychology  of  the  Emotions,  ch.  X. 
Santayana,  The  Sense  of  Beauty. 
Samson,  Elements  of  Art  Criticism,  pp.  192-197. 
Schiller,  Esthetic  Letters. 

Stanley,  Evolutionary  Psychology  of  Feeling,  ch.  XVII. 
Sully,  Teachers'  Handbook  of  Psychology,  ch.  XVI,  XVII,  or 

XVIII.  t 
Thomas,  L'Education  des  Sentiments,  chs.  Ill  and  XVIII. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE    PLACE    OF    PLEASURE    AND    PAIN    IN    EDUCATION 

IN  the  order  of  racial  and  individual  development 
the  elementary  feelings  of  the  pleasant  and  unpleasant 
precede  the  complex  emotions;  so  in  the  order  of 
our  discussion  of  the  specific  kinds  of  feeling  they  must 
do  the  same. 

Pleasure  is  a  feeling,  capable  of  various  degrees  of  The  Nature 

,    of  Pleasure. 

intensity,  and  apparently  an  ultimate  constituent  of 
consciousness  without  being  subject  to  further  analysis. 
As  an  elementary  feeling  it  is  the  mental  accompani- 
ment of  normal  activity  of  any  sort  and  of  steady, 
smooth,  uninterrupted  thinking.  The  presence  of 
pleasure  signifies  health  and  actual  increase  of  vitality. 
It  is  a  distinct  benefit  to  the  organism.  That  organ- 
ism which  found  benefits  unpleasant  and  injuries 
pleasant  could  not  long  survive  in  the  struggle  for 
existence. 
A  distinction  must  be  drawn  between  pain  and  the  The  Nature 

.       .  .  ,  ,  of  Pain  and 

unpleasant ;    pain  is  a  sensation,  and  the  unpleasant  the 
is  a  feeling.     As  a  sensation,  pain  is  the  content  of  ant 
consciousness  arising  through  an  excessive  or  defec- 
tive stimulation  of  some  sense-organ;    or  indeed,  as 
the  physiological  psychologists  say,  through  the  stim- 
ulation of  certain  so-called  pain  nerves ;  or,  still  again, 
through  some  not  well- understood  inner  cortical  excite- 

«s 


2i6     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

ment.  As  a  feeling  the  sense  of  the  unpleasant,  the 
disagreeable,  the  discomforting,  is  the  attitude  con- 
sciousness always  takes  toward  the  sensations  of  pain, 
as  indeed  toward  any  form  of  abnormal  activity  or 
interrupted,  halting  thinking.  The  sensation  of  pain 
together  with  its  regularly  accompanying  feeling  of 
discomfort  and  displeasure  signifies  unnatural  physical 
conditions,  disease,  and  decrease  of  vitality.  Pain 
means  injury  to  the  organism.  Even  when  survival 
is  possible  under  habitually  painful  surroundings, 
growth  is  always  slow  and  sometimes  arrested. 
The  School  Considering  the  place  of  these  experiences  in  edu- 
pieasure.  cation,  it  may  be  said  that  the  modern  idea  is  that 
the  school  should  be  a  place  of  pleasure,  and  that  pain 
and  discomfort  are  tolerated  only  as  occasional  neces- 
sities. It  should  be  a  pleasure  to  teachers  and  pupils 
alike  to  live  and  labor  in  the  school  home,  and  also 
to  remember  it  from  afar.  Here  is  the  place  where 
burdens  are  shared,  friendships  are  made,  and  mature 
life  enters  naturally  and  gladly  into  immature  life, 
thus  making  it  the  life  abundant.  Where  pupils  stand 
in  physical  fear  of  teachers,  energy  is  wasted,  thoughts 
are  scattered,  and  mental  progress  retarded.  The 
studies  pursued  should  give  that  apocalypse  of  life 
in  which  the  maturing  consciousness  rejoices.  As 
Shakespeare  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Tranio,  adviser 
of  Lucentio,  concerning  his  studies  — 

"  No  profit  grows  where  is  no  pleasure  ta'en." 

And  Sydney  Smith  is  not  all  wrong  when  he  says 
somewhere,  "If  you  make  children  happy  now,  you 
make  them  happy  twenty  years  hence."  And  those 


Pleasure   and    Pain    in    Education        217 

happy  grown-ups  twenty  years  from  now,  in  the  midst 
of  the  busy  details  of  life,  will  in  gratitude  continue 
and  increase  the  support  of  that  educational  system 
which  is  the  joy-bringer  to  youthful  lives.  The  pain- 
ful sensations  and  the  discomforting  feelings  are  occa- 
sionally really  necessary  in  the  modern  school,  but 
they  are  there  as  incidental,  not  regular,  experiences, 
and  as  corrective  and  reformative,  not  vindictive  or 
even  retributive. 

This  modern  idea  of  the  school  as  a  place  of  pleasure  The  Former 
is  one  of  the  signs  of  the  educational  progress  that  has  Place  Of 
been  made  within  the  memory  of  this  generation.  Pain- 
The  mediaeval  school  and  its  long  line  of  successors 
was  founded  on  the  pain  regime.  In  Shakespeare's 
famous  seven  ages  of  man  the  whining  schoolboy  with 
his  satchel  and  shining  morning  face  creeps  like  a 
snail  unwillingly  to  school.  No  small  contribution  of 
Charles  Dickens  to  educational  practice  was  the  arous- 
ing of  the  English  conscience  to  the  sufferings  of  pupils 
in  schools.  To  many  the  old  three  R's  meant  "the 
rule  of  the  ruler."  And  in  his  own  vividly  realistic 
fashion,  Carlyle  has  told  us  in  "Sartor  Resartus"  of  the 
Hinterschlag  professors  who  "knew  syntax  enough, 
and  of  the  human  soul  this  much:  that  it  has  a 
faculty  called  memory,  and  could  be  acted  on  through 
the  muscular  integuments  by  appliance  of  birch-rods." 

Another  fact  concerning  pleasure  and  pain  signifi-   Pleasure  and 

r  LI   Pain  as 

cant  for  educational  uses  is  that  they  are  the  natural  Morai  con- 

moral  consequences  in  the  end  of  good  and  bad  con-  sequences, 
duct.    The  moral  order  of  our  world  means  at  least 
that    the    ultimate    issue    justifies    righteousness    and 


2i 8     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

that  wickedness  cannot  be  committed  with  impunity. 
Not  that  the  outcome  alone,  apart  from  the  motive, 
gives  the  moral  quality  to  the  act,  whether  good  or 
bad,  but  that  the  act  and  its  conclusions  are  parts  of 
one  piece.  The  right  and  wrong  are  to  be  followed 
and  eschewed  because  of  both  what  they  are  and  to 
what  they  lead.  With  young  children  having  unde- 
veloped moral  perceptions,  and  often  with  children  of 
older  growth,  the  consequences  of  the  deed  are  more  in- 
fluential than  the  moral  quality  of  the  deed  itself.  "Do 
right,  though  the  heavens  fall,"  is  the  motto  of  the 
morally  quick  soul;  but,  "do  right,  and  the  heavens 
won't  fall,"  is  rather  the  strengthening  motto  for  the 
morally  immature,  whether  young  or  old.  Thus  the 
observant  Bain  writes,  "I  should  not  be  far  out  in 
saying  that  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  average  moral 
faculty  is  the  rough  and  ready  response  of  the  will  to 
the  constituted  penalties  and  rewards  of  society."  l 
The  Alpha  Now,  the  significance  for  educators  of  pleasure  and 
Training.  pain  as  moral  consequences  is  twofold,  practical  and 
theoretical.  Practically,  indelible  associations  must 
be  formed  by  the  school  order  between  the  right  deed 
once  done  and  its  consequent  pleasure.  Let  no  worthy 
deed  go  unapproved,  speak  the  spontaneous  word  of 
commendation  at  the  well-meaning  and  the  well-doing 
of  the  pupils.  Likewise,  an  association  must  be  in- 
grained between  the  unworthy  deed  and  its  painful 
consequence.  Once  an  unlovely  deed  is  totally  ignored, 
and  the  school  so  far  forth  ceases  to  be  a  moral  order. 
And  theoretically,  following  in  the  wake  of  the  pre- 

1  Alexander  Bain,  "Education  as  a  Science,"  p.  58. 


Pleasure  and  Pain  in  Education         219 

ceding  practice,  certain  definite  lessons  may  be  taught 
older  pupils,  such  as,  the  painful  consequences  of 
wrong-doing  and  the  pleasurable  consequences  of  right- 
doing.  It  was  one  of  the  seven  wise  men  of  Greece, 
Chilo  of  Sparta,  to  whom  are  attributed  those  words 
of  guidance,  "Consider  the  end."  It  is  a  high  and  late 
type  of  organism  that  is  capable  thus  of  living  con- 
sciously in  the  future  in  addition  to  the  present; 
it  is  a  privilege  not  shared  by  man  with  lower 
creatures,  the  abuse  of  which  means  that  man's 
life,  controlled  by  appetites  and  impulses  of  the 
moment,  is  lowered  from  its  high  estate  to  the 
animal  plane  of  existence.  Children,  like  animals, 
instinctively  seek  pleasure  and  avoid  pain.  The  idea 
is  so  to  link  these  elemental  aims  of  action  with  right 
and  wrong  that  the  pupil's  nervous  system  sponta- 
neously and  habitually  does  right  and  avoids  wrong. 
This  pleasure-pain  basis  is  the  alpha  of  moral  training ; 
its  omega,  let  us  hope,  is  that  loftier  region  where 
right  in  itself  is  the  object  of  love  and  wrong  the  object 
of  hatred. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Dickens  as  an  Educator. 

2.  Corporal  Punishment. 

3.  Rewards  and  Prizes. 

REFERENCES  ON  PLEASURE  AND  PAIN 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  57-60. 
Calkins,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  pp.  71-76. 
James,  Briefer  Psychology,  pp.  67-69. 
Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  pp.  210-217. 
Thomas,  L'Education  des  Sentiments,  chs.  I  and  HI. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 


The  Usual 
Theory  of 
the  Emo- 
tions. 


CONTROLLING  THE  COARSER  EMOTIONS 

AFTER  the  elementary  come  the  complex  feelings, 
and  the  first  class  of  the  complex  feelings  we  found  to 
be  the  coarser  emotions.  These  are  such  experiences  as 
anger,  hate,  fear,  grief,  love,  and  jealousy.  They  are 
mostly  instinctive  in  origin,  imbedded  in  the  nervous 
system  of  children,  and  only  awaiting  the  fitting  stim- 
ulus upon  which  to  break  forth.  The  problem  of 
the  teacher  here  is  not  so  much  how  to  arouse  them 
as  how  to  control  them,  once  aroused.  To  assist  us 
in  solving  this  question,  we  must  inquire  somewhat 
carefully  into  their  nature. 

Is  the  emotion  the  cause  of  its  bodily  expression, 
or  is  the  bodily  expression  the  cause  of  the  emotion? 
Does  a  man  tremble  and  quake  because  he  is  fright- 
ened, or  is  he  frightened  because  he  trembles  and 
quakes?  Do  we  cry  because  we  are  grieved,  cr  are 
we  grieved  because  we  cry?  Do  we  strike  because 
we  are  mad,  or  are  we  mad  because  we  strike?  Until 
a  few  years  ago  there  was  but  one  answer  to  these 
questions,  the  former  alternative  in  each  case  being 
defended.  The  perceived  idea  or  object,  it  was  held, 
caused  the  emotion,  and  the  emotion  caused  the  physi- 
cal expression.  We  see  a  wild  animal  loose,  we  become 
frightened,  and  run  away.  Since  it  is  the  emotion 


Controlling  the  Coarser  Emotions      221 

that  causes  the  expression,  this  position  is  known  as 
the  "cause  theory"  of  the  emotions.  Charles  Darwin 
defended  this  view  in  his  well-known  volume  on  "The 
Expression  of  the  Emotions."  And  it  is  still  the  cus- 
tomary view. 

But  great  names  oppose  it.    A  dozen  years  ago  or  T^ 

_      ,  TTTMI-  T  i     i       -i-x       .  i  11      James-Lange 

so,  Professor  William  James  and  the  Danish  psychol-  Theory, 
ogist,  Karl  Lange,  brought  out  about  the  same  time 
the  contrary  view,  viz.  that  the  emotion  is  not  due 
directly  to  the  perceived  object  and  its  influence  on 
consciousness,  but  to  those  physiological  expressions 
that  at  once  follow  the  perception  of  the  exciting  object 
and  report  themselves  to  consciousness  in  the  form 
of  internal  sensations.  First  the  perceived  object, 
then  physiological  changes  in  heart,  lungs,  viscera,  etc., 
then  the  emotion.  We  see  a  wild  animal  loose,  we 
have  palpitation  of  the  heart,  cessation  of  breathing, 
rising  hair,  blanched  cheeks,  trembling  limbs,  etc.,  and 
then  the  emotion  of  fear.  In  brief,  the  peculiar  feel 
of  any  emotion  is  due  to  the  sensational  reports  from 
the  bodily  organs.  Since  it  is  the  expression  that 
causes  the  emotion,  this  position  is  known  as  the  "effect 
theory  "  of  the  emotions.  It  has  been  adopted  in  whole 
or  in  part  by  those  physiological  psychologists  who 
are  ready  to  explain  the  mind  by  the  body,  but  not 
the  body  by  the  mind. 

The  arguments  for  the  "James-Lange  theory,"  as  its  Element 
it   is  called,  cannot   be   wholly  gainsaid.    The   man 
who  has  been  insulted,  but  shows  no  signs  of  it  without 
or  within,  does  not  really  feel  insulted,  though  he  may 


222     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Its  Insuffi- 
ciency. 

Exciting 
Ideas. 


Influence  of 
Associations. 


think  he  ought  to  feel  so.  The  man  who  with  smooth 
natural  countenance  and  loose  muscles  calmly  an- 
nounced that  he  was  raging  mad  would  not  be  believed ; 
and  he  whose  grief  has  no  moist  eye,  or  broken  voice, 
or  lump  in  the  throat,  or  contraction  of  the  chest,  does 
not  really  feel  grieved.  The  sensational  reports  of 
the  physiological  changes  consequent  on  the  perception 
of  the  exciting  object  constitute  thus  an  essential  ele- 
ment in  the  emotion. 

But  to  agree  in  part  is  not  to  agree  in  whole.  Why 
should  the  perception  of  the  wild  tiger  cause  the  bodily 
changes  in  question  but  for  its  own  emotional  quality? 
Not  every  object  perceived  thus  sets  the  body  out  of 
gear.  It  is  the  dangerous,  the  insulting,  the  beloved, 
the  hated,  the  missed,  object  that  alone  suffices  thus 
to  throw  the  body  askew.  Manifestly,  some  ideas  are 
felt  as  exciting  directly,  and  some  are  not ;  and  it  is  the 
exciting  ideas  that  can  upset  the  body,  while  the  unex- 
citing ideas  leave  us  unmoved.  The  insulting  word  is 
first  understood,  then  rejected  by  consciousness,  and 
the  expression  of  its  rejection  appears  physiologically. 

Again,  reflection  shows  it  is  not  the  perception  alone, 
but  its  associations,  that  cause  the  bodily  changes. 
A  child,  for  example,  might  not  be  afraid  of  the  tiger, 
but  rather  interested  in  its  black  and  yellow  stripes. 
This  shows  that  the  mind  contributes  from  itself  some- 
thing toward  the  emotion.  The  man  is  afraid  because 
he  knows;  that  he  is  afraid  because  he  feels  himself 
trembling  is  secondary.  Now  Professor  James  admits 
that  the  subtler  emotions  may  be  cerebral  in  origin,1 

1  "Briefer  Psychology,"  p.  384. 


Controlling  the  Coarser  Emotions        223 

that  is,  due  to  associated  brain  paths  corresponding  to 
the  ideas  that  excite  the  emotions.  This  admission 
is  all  we  need  to  show  that  the  coarser  emotions  also 
in  their  early  and  incipient  stages  may  be  cerebral 
and  not  peripheral  in  origin. 

Again,  if  the  theory  were  strictly  true,  we  should 
expect  that  different  bodily  expressions  would  give  us 
different  emotions,  but  we  find,  on  the  contrary,  that 
such  discrepant  expressions  as  weeping  and  dancing 
may  alike  be  for  joy;  also,  we  should  expect  that  the 
same  bodily  expression  would  give  us  the  same  emo- 
tion, but  we  find,  on  the  contrary,  that  tears  may  mean 
joy  or  grief. 

And,  finally,  certain  recent  experiments  of  M.  A.  Experiments. 
Mayer  l  on  the  influence  of  mental  images  on  secre- 
tions show  that  the  greater  the  pleasure  taken  in  food 
the  greater  the  quantity  of  the  digestive  secretions. 
Here  i  the  pleasure  preceded  and  caused  the  secretions, 
the  secretions  did  not  cause  the  pleasure,  though  the 
comfortable  stomachic  sensations  probably  increased 
the  pleasure. 

Putting  all  these  objections  together,  and  at  the  OurCon- 
same  time  remembering  the  element  of  truth  we  found 
in  this  peripheral  theory  of  the  emotions,  we  must  con- 
clude that  the  coarser  emotions  are  due  to  exciting 
ideas  as  well  as  to  their  accompanying  bodily  states. 
First  the  perceived  object  or  idea,  then  the  incipient 
emotion,  then  the  physiological  expression,  and  finally 
the  intensified  and  full-rounded  emotion.  The  phys- 
iological expression  has  increased,  not  caused,  the 

1  Journal  de  Psychologic,  1904. 


224     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

emotion.  The  boy  sees  the  bear,  becomes  frightened, 
begins  to  run,  and  becomes  more  frightened.  A  dear 
loss  is  recognized,  we  feel  grieved,  and  give  way,  and 
feel  more  grieved,  until  exhaustion  ensues.  The 
exciting  idea  and  the  accompanying  bodily  state  ac- 
count together  for  the  complete  emotion.  To  have 
the  idea  of  the  insult  without  the  physical  expression 
is  to  be  only  half-mad ;  to  have  the  physical  expression 
without  the  idea  is  to  feign  anger.  And  the  sum  of 
our  inquiry  is  that  the  coarser  emotions  depend  upon 
their  exciting  ideas  and  the  accompanying  physiolog- 
ical changes.  Perhaps  the  practical  educational  ser- 
vice of  this  conclusion  will  justify  us  in  having  made 
the  preceding  theoretical  inquiry. 

The  Control  How  then  shall  we  control  the  coarser  emotions 
Coarser  in  either  ourselves  or  our  pupils  ?  Now  the  idea  which 
Emotions.  js  responsible  in  part  for  the  emotion  is  subject  to 
change,  through  the  redirection  of  attention.  For- 
get it,  put  it  aside,  think  of  something  else,  become 
otherwise  engrossed,  and  the  emotion  tends  to  fade 
away.  Cling  to  it,  brood  over  it,  hold  it  fast,  exclude 
inhibiting  or  contradictory  ideas,  and  the  emotion 
tends  to  remain.  Further,  the  bodily  expression 
which  is  also  responsible  in  part  for  the  emotion,  in 
so  far  as  it  makes  use  of  the  voluntary  muscles  of  the 
body  which  is  largely  the  real  case,  is  subject  to  control. 
Give  way  to  it,  encourage  it,  assist  it,  anticipate  it, 
and  the  emotion  remains.  Oppose  it,  check  it,  with- 
hold it,  struggle  against  it,  prevent  it,  and  the  emotion 
tends  to  pass  away.  In  short,  to  secure  the  presence 


Controlling  the  Coarser  Emotions       225 

of  one  of  the  coarser  emotions,  were  that  desirable, 
encourage  the  ideas  and  acts  that  mean  the  emotion, 
as  did  Antony  over  great  Caesar's  murdered  body; 
and  to  control  them,  which  is  the  more  frequently 
necessary,  change  the  ideas  and  repress  the  expression, 
as  panics  are  sometimes  avoided  by  music.  Our  par- 
tial disagreement  with  the  James-Lange  theory  permits 
us  to  reach  the  emotion  through  the  side  of  the  idea 
as  well  as  the  side  of  the  act. 

One  particular  thing  is  to  be  observed.  An  emotion  Stan  early 
just. getting  under  way  may  be  easily  repressed,  even 
in  a  crowd  where  suggestion  is  mighty.  Once  under 
headway,  however,  even  in  an  individual,  trying  to 
repress  it  may  be  in  vain,  or  even  a  stimulus.  Try 
to  repress  the  rising  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  and  it  be- 
comes all  the  more  obstreperous  within.  Better  out 
with  it,  and  over  with  it,  once  it  has  its  start.  Similarly, 
let  a  passion,  once  aroused,  first  subside,  whether  anger, 
love,  or  hate,  before  attempting  to  handle  it. 

The  whole  of  the  direction  of  the  coarser  emotions  Think  and 

clct 

from  the  intellectual  side  is  included  in  the  old  Biblical 
proverb,  "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he ;  " 
and  from  the  volitional  side  we  cannot  do  better  than 
quote  him  whose  contribution  to  the  question  has 
done  so  much  in  recent  years  to  clear  up  the  whole 
field  of  feeling,  Professor  James,  who  writes:  "Refuse 
to  express  a  passion,  and  it  dies.  Count  ten  before 
venting  your  anger,  and  its  occasion  seems  ridiculous. 
Whistling  to  keep  up  courage  is  no  mere  figure  of 
speech.  On  the  other  hand,  sit  all  day  in  a  mop- 
ing posture,  sigh,  and  reply  to  everything  with  a  dis- 


226     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

mal  voice,  and  your  melancholy  lingers.  There  is 
no  more  valuable  precept  in  moral  education  than 
this,  as  all  who  have  experience  know;  if  we  wish 
to  conquer  undesirable  emotional  tendencies  in  our- 
selves, we  must  assiduously,  and  in  the  first  instance 
cold-bloodedly,  go  through  the  outward  movements 
of  those  contrary  dispositions  which  we  prefer  to  culti- 
vate. The  reward  of  persistency  will  infallibly  come, 
in  the  fading  out  of  the  sullenness  or  depression,  and 
the  advent  of  real  cheerfulness  and  kindliness  in  their 
stead.  Smooth  the  brow,  brighten  the  eye,  contract 
the  dorsal  rather  than  the  ventral  aspect  of  the  frame, 
and  speak  in  a  major  key,  pass  the  genial  compli- 
ments, and  your  heart  must  be  frigid  indeed  if  it  do 
not  gradually  thaw!"  * 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Origin  of  Expressions  of  Emotion. 

2.  The  Function  of  Emotion. 

3.  A  List  of  the  Coarser  Emotions. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  COARSER  EMOTIONS 

Angell,  Psychology,  ch.  XIX. 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  72-81. 

Calkins,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  pp.  285-298. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  XVL 

James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  ch.  XXV. 

James,  "The  Gospel  of  Relaxation,"  in  Talks  to  Teachers. 

Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  pp.  280-297. 

Thomas,  L'Education  des  Sentiments,  chs.  VIII  and  IX. 

Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  pp.  172-174. 

1  James,  "Principles  of  Psychology,"  Vol.  II,  p.  463. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

DEVELOPING   THE    ALTRUISTIC    FEELINGS 

IN  the  description  of  the  growth  of  feeling  in  chapter 
XV,  it  was  shown  that  the  first  feelings  are  mainly 
egoistic,  and  later  appear  the  altruistic  feelings.  It 
was  there  stated  that  the  transition  from  one  of  these 
stages  to  the  other  would  occupy  us  in  a  later  chapter, 
and  to  this  question  we  now  come. 

The  term  altruism  was  given  currency  by  the  French  Tke  Origin 

of  Altruism 

positivist,  Auguste  Comte.  To  mm  all  knowledge  is 
limited  to  sensational  experience,  and  consequently 
both  the  religious  and  the  philosophical  attitudes  are 
to  him  relics  of  a  past  immaturity.  Nothing  ultimate  is 
known  or  knowable.  With  the  passing  away  of  all 
unseen  values  on  this  basis,  with  the  dethronement  of 
God,  Comte  had  to  substitute  something  to  which  the 
affections  of  men  might  cling  and  for  which  they  might 
labor.  Altruism  served  this  purpose  in  his  system.  It 
was  to  him  a  kind  of  religion  of  humanity,  the  worship 
of  the  best  thing  included  in  the  sensible  experience  of 
man.  In  the  absence  of  more  ultimate  values,  man 
himself  became  the  object  of  most  worth.  .This  some- 
what pathetic  origin,  as  I  think,  of  the  conception  of 
altruism  by  no  means  blinds  us  to  an  element  of  truth 
that  it  contains.  It  is  better  to  love  one's  fellow-man 
in  the  absence  of  God  than  not  at  all,  —  perhaps  it  is 

227 


228     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

still  better  to  love  him  in  the  presence  of  God.  The 
increasing  tribe  of  Abou  Ben  Adhem  makes  the  earth  a 
more  habitable  place  in  which  to  dwell,  even  though 
there  be  a  certain  infinite  loneliness  everywhere.  And 
it  is  this  love  of  man,  this  real  regard  for  the  welfare 
of  others,  for  which  Comte  and  altruism  stand. 
The  Problem  ft  js  a  CO(je  of  conduct  much  in  advance  of  that  un- 
Chapter.  conscious  selfishness  which  children  in  school  so  in- 
stinctively display.  For  the  ordinary  life  of  the  child 
is  self-centred.  Nature  has  made  him  helpless  and 
given  him  the  means  of  making  others  solicitously 
aware  of  his  helplessness.  The  home  places  the  elders 
at  the  disposition  of  the  youngest  child.  The  earlier 
years  mean  that  others  give  and  he  receives.  It  is  no 
small  thing  for  the  child  to  enter  school,  a  social  in- 
stitution where  he  is  not  the  centre  he  was  in  the 
domestic  order.  The  pupil  with  whom  we  begin  is,  by 
nature,  and  partly  also  by  training,  a  little  egoist.  He 
is  without  doubt  also  a  latent  natural  altruist. 

But  how  different  is  the  right  life  of  the  youth  and 
man,  regardful  of  the  welfare  of  others,  thinking  of 
another's  comfort  rather  than  their  own,  preferring  to 
give  rather  than  receive  pleasure,  even  sacrificing  bodily 
comforts  for  friendship's  sake,  even  indeed  for  a  needy 
stranger's  sake.  The  youth  needs  to  have  become 
altruistic,  and  he  has  not  always  done  so. 

Here,  then,  we  reach  the  statement  of  our  problem  in 
developing  the  altruistic  feelings.  It  is,  namely,  to 
effect  wisely  and  surely  the  transition  from  the  charac- 
teristic egoism  of  childhood  to  the  altruism  of  youth 
and  manhood,  to  supplement  regard  for  self  by  regard 


Developing  the  Altruistic  Feelings         229 

for  others,  to  transform  the  self-centred  life  into  the 
life  with  the  divided  centre.  In  a  recent  attractive  and 
valuable  discussion  I  find  one  of  the  results  to  be  striven 
for  in  moral  education  stated  in  a  fashion  to  illustrate 
the  idea  of  altruism,  "The  gradual  extension  of  sym- 
pathy (or  of  personality)  over  an  ever  widening  area  of 
life,  so  that  the  individual  conies  to  feel  the  pain  and 
the  joy  of  all  other  lives  as  somewhat  like  his  own."  * 
To  feel  the  universal  human  life  and  not  neglect  one's 
neighbors,  to  widen  one's  personality  to  cover  sympa- 
thetically distant  famines,  persecutions,  atrocities,  dis- 
asters, and  not  forget  one's  poor  relatives,  to  love  hu- 
manity and  help  the  uninteresting  men  one  knows,  —  to 
bring  naturally  egoistic  children  into  this  good  estate 
is  our  practical  problem.  Not  that  our  youngest 
children  are  totally  egoistic,  I  repeat,  but  dominantly  so. 

At  this  point  it  is  pertinent  to  note  that  we  as  Are  ail  Men 
teachers  through  observation  or  study  may  have  come 
under  the  influence  of  a  chilling  hedonistic  philosophy, 
that  all  men  are  fundamentally  selfish,  that  to  avoid 
pain  and  get  pleasure  is  the  main  motive  of  man,  that 
sentiments  of  unselfishness  and  charity  are  signs  of  a 
weakening  civilization  as  it  becomes  increasingly  re- 
moved from  a  sturdy  animal  ancestry  struggling  for 
survival.  We  are  particularly  likely  to  meet  the  posi- 
tion that  every  man  is  working  for  himself  without 
considering  the  welfare  of  his  fellows  in  certain  depart- 
ments of  our  life,  for  example,  just  now  in  business. 
A  recent  editorial  comment  runs,  "Business  is  not 

1  E.  H.  Griggs,  "Moral  Education,"  p.  43. 


230     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

amenable  to  sentiment  unless  pressure  is  brought  to 
bear  upon  it  from  the  standpoint  of  effect  upon  reve- 
nues." *  And  " business  is  business"  is  an  old  saying 
recently  dramatized,  while  not  infrequently  one  hears 
statements  meaning  that  personal  standards  of  in- 
tegrity are  not  applicable  in  the  business  world.  This 
evidence  all  looks  toward  establishing  the  self-centred 
life  of  manhood  on  a  conscious  basis  which  in  child- 
hood we  find  on  an  unconscious  basis.  I  refer  to 
this  doctrine  of  universal  selfishness  to  combat  it 
both  as  an  ideal  of  life  and  as  a  fact.  For,  if  it  were 
desirable  or  true  that  all  men  are  primarily  for  them- 
selves, the  problem  of  developing  the  altruistic  feelings 
would  be  insoluble.  The  teacher  must  have  his  phi- 
losophy of  manhood,  and  he  must  harbor  no  idea  or 
ideal  untrue  to  the  nature  and  dignity  of  man. 

For  this  reason  let  me  attempt  to  disprove  the 
apparently  growing  assumption  that  all  men  are  self- 
centred,  —  not  that  any  of  my  readers  hold  this  posi- 
tion, but  perchance  that  they  may  see  more  clearly 
why  they  never  could  hold  it.  Is  it  not,  first,  a  bad 
A  Poor  interpretation  of  a  devoted  love,  such,  for  example,  as 

Interpreta- 
tion of  a         a  cold  and  starving  mother  shows  m  giving  her  food 

and  raiment  to  her  children ;  such  as  a  hero  of  the  faith 
has  in  leaving  behind  country,  friends,  and  relatives 
to  carry  good  news  to  a  less  favored  people ;  such  as  a 
brave  fireman  incurs  in  risking  his  life,  sometimes  giving 
it,  for  the  life  of  another?  To  talk  about  the  mother 
thereby  avoiding  the  pangs  of  an  outraged  conscience, 
the  missionary  seeking  thereby  the  pleasures  of  heaven, 

1  Boston  Commercial,  June  10,  1905. 


Developing  the  Altruistic  Feelings         231 

or  the  fireman  working  to  become  a  Carnegie  hero,  as 
their  essential  motives,  seems  indeed  paltry,  and  un- 
worthy even  what  we  know  to  be  true  of  our  weak 
selves. 
Again,    the   position   in   question   makes   gratitude  Gratitude 

.v  Meaningless 

meaningless.  The  emotion  of  gratitude  naturally 
arises  in  noble  natures  whenever  another  renders  an 
unpaid  service,  or  puts  the  quality  of  the  free  spirit 
into  a  paid  service.  Words  expressive  of  gratitude  rise 
spontaneously  to  the  lips.  But  the  theory  checks  them 
there  and  logically  prevents  their  utterance,  for  this 
deed  after  all  was  not  done  for  me,  the  grateful  one, 
but  for  himself,  the  doer.  Every  channel  of  gratitude 
between  man  and  man  is  shut  hi  consistency  by  such  a 
view. 
And  again,  it  is  bad  introspective  psychology  to  re-  Poor 

.  ,  .  Psychology. 

port  that  men  are  always  in  their  motives  looking  out 
first  for  number  one.  On  this  point  let  me  quote  the 
inimitable  past  master  in  psychology,  Professor  James, 
who  writes:  "So  widespread  and  searching  is  this  in- 
fluence of  pleasures  and  pains  upon  our  movements 
that  a  premature  philosophy  has  decided  that  these  are 
our  only  spurs  to  action,  and  that  wherever  they  seem 
to  be  absent,  it  is  only  because  they  are  so  far  on  among 
the  'remote'  images  that  prompt  the  action  that  they 
are  overlooked. 

"This  is  a  great  mistake,  however.  Important  as 
is  the  influence  of  pleasures  and  pains  upon  our  move- 
ments, they  are  far  from  being  our  only  stimuli.  .  .  . 
However  the  actual  impulsions  may  have  arisen,  they 
must  now  be  described  as  they  exist ;  and  those  persons 


232     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

obey  a  curiously  narrow  teleological  superstition  who 
think  themselves  bound  to  interpret  them  in  every  in- 
stance as  effects  of  the  secret  solicitancy  of  pleasure  and 
repugnancy  of  pain.  If  the  thought  of  pleasure  can 
compel  to  action,  surely  other  thoughts  may."  l 

Poor  Ethics.  And  lastly,  this  theory  is  bad  evolutionary  ethics. 
This  consideration  touches  the  quick  of  the  matter,  for 
here  the  theory  in  its  modern  form  originated.  The 
animals  survive  through  a  struggle  by  might  for  exist- 
ence ;  man  carries  on  the  same  struggle  in  the  field  of 
conscious  competition.  Self-preservation  in  him  too 
is  nature's  first  law.  Not  to  resist  evil,  to  give  the  other 
cheek,  to  go  the  second  mile,  —  these  are  the  virtues  of 
menials  and  slaves,  not  of  the  typical  sons  of  nature, 
nor  of  the  super-men  that  are  to  be.  The  weak,  the 
infirm,  the  imbecile,  the  insane,  the  inmates  of  hospitals 
and  asylums,  these  are  the  modern  social  incubus,  they 
are  not  fit  to  survive,  they  ought  not  to  be  kept  in  exist- 
ence. Thus  Friedrich  Nietzsche  in  Germany,  thus 
Bernard  Shaw  in  England. 

Better  These  men  are  lovers  of  power.  They  rebuke  the 

Christian  world  for  its  lack  of  power.  They  are  called 
into  existence  because  the  church  is  not  the  social  power 
it  might  be.  Their  mistake  is  that  they  do  not  see  the 
inherent  power  in  the  Christian  message.  Perhaps  they 
see  it  more  than  they  allow,  and  only  wear  the  mask 
of  hardness  and  egotism  in  a  soft,  weak  age.  So  at 
least  thinks  James  Huneker,  who  writes  of  Shaw  in  the 
"Iconoclasts,"  "Nearly  all  his  earnings  went  to  the 
needy ;  his  was,  and  is,  a  practical  socialism.  He  never 

1  James,  "Briefer  Psychology,"  pp.  445-446. 


Developing  the  Altruistic  Feelings        233 

let  his  right  hand  know  the  extent  of  his  charities,  and 
mark  this,  no  one  else  knew  of  it.  Yet  good  deeds,  like 
murder,  will  out.  His  associates  ceased  deriding  his 
queer  clothes,  the  flannel  shirt  and  the  absence  of  even- 
ing dress ;  his  money  was  spent  on  others.  So,  too,  his 
sawdust  menu  —  his  carrots,  cabbages,  and  brown 
bread  —  it  did  not  cost  much,  his  eating,  for  his  money 
was  needed  by  poorer  folk."  So  is  a  man  better  than 
his  creed ;  so  do  his  morals  outrun  his  ethics. 
But  the  creed  itself,  does  nature  indeed  justify  it?  Is  Nature  also 

,        .  f    ,  i/.  i       .   i         ,.,  T,         Unselfish. 

she  so  productive  of  the  selfish  right  of  might?  John 
Fiske,  in  his  controversy  with  Huxley  on  this  point, 
maintained  that  the  moral  is  also  a  natural  principle, 
and  writes  on  "The  Cosmic  Roots  of  Love  and  Self- 
sacrifice."  l  The  processes  of  generation,  of  birth,  of 
maternal  defence,  of  masculine  protection,  of  rearing 
young,  are  all  the  instinctive  giving  of  life  for  life  among 
nature's  animal  children.  And  Prince  Kropotkin  well 
writes  his  "Mutual  Aid"  to  show  that  evolution  has 
not  taken  place  solely  by  selfishness.  A  universe  whose 
gifts  to  man  are  free  for  his  appropriation  and  which 
out  of  its  fertile  womb  has  given  life  and  consciousness 
to  man  cannot  be  justly  described  as  being  soulless  and 
immoral  at  heart.  And  the  highest  souls  of  men,  the 
prophets  and  our  Martyr-Teacher,  refuse  to  be  gauged 
by  the  standard  of  self. 

And  the  sum  of  it  is,  as  I  think,  we  as  teachers,  in  Conclusion 

against 

the  work  of  upbuilding  humanity  in  the  image  of  God,   Universal 
as  Pestalozzi  expressed  it,  are  not  handicapped  by  any  Egot 
such  blighting  conception  and  are  free  to  use  what 

1  This  essay  in  "Through  Nature  to  God." 


234     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

efforts  are  at  our  disposal  to  bring  our  pupils  out  of 
their  dominant  egoism  into  the  clear  place  of  social  re- 
gard. And  how  shall  we  do  it? 

Let  me  attempt  to  make  certain  definite  suggestions 
toward  the  solution  of  this  problem  with  which  we 
began.  Our  nervous  systems  are  so  constituted  that 
at  the  sight  of  suffering  they  instinctively  respond  in 
sympathy  and  fellow-feeling.  Even  an  image  of  absent 
suffering,  if  vivid,  may  suffice  to  call  out  this  instinctive 
sympathetic  reaction.  Utilize  such  instinctive  expres- 
sions of  feeling  in  some  practical  way;  that  is,  do  not 
let  a  feeling  of  sympathy  once  present  in  the  school  as  a 
whole  or  in  an  individual  evaporate  without  first  having 
directed  it  into  some  practical  outlet.  What  will  they 
do  to  show  their  sympathy,  is  the  question  to  put.  A 
visit  to  the  afflicted  individual  or  home,  a  gift  of  flowers, 
reading  with  the  sick  or  for  the  blind,  assistance  to  the 
deficient  pupil,  or  money  for  the  deserving  poor,  serve 
to  illustrate  the  practical  expressions  of  a  sympathetic 
feeling  instinctively  aroused.  Not  to  put  the  feeling 
into  action  is  to  weaken  its  impulsive  power  when  next 
felt ;  to  concrete  the  feeling  in  action  is  to  form  a  path- 
way of  discharge  for  future  similar  deeds  of  service. 
Get  the  Feel-  It  may  be  that  the  capital  of  feeling  is  absent  and 

ing  through  ••         «  .          .  .  ,         ,  .   •, 

the  Act.  we  have  nothing  but  the  bare  situation  with  which  to 
begin.  But  at  least  the  pupils  stand  in  need  of  mutual 
assistance  and  they  are  subject  to  our  direction.  Secure 
kind  action  toward  others,  even  cold-bloodedly  at  first, 
if  necessary,  and  the  proper  feeling  will  follow.  The 
voluntary  performance  of  an  altruistic  deed  tends  to 


Developing  the  Altruistic  Feelings        235 

generate  in  its  train  the  altruistic  feeling.  Do  the 
deed,  even  with  effort,  that  the  feeling,  if  present, 
would  prompt,  and  the  feeling  arises  in  the  train  of  the 
deed.  Aristotle  somewhere  observes  that  we  love 
those  whom  we  have  benefited  more  than  they  love  us ; 
and  Hoffding  shows  that  in  the  proscriptions  of  Sulla  it 
was  sometimes  the  case  that  the  son  betrayed  the  father, 
but  the  father  the  son  never.  Interest,  affection,  de- 
votion, follow  the  deeds  of  service. 
An  altruistic  feeling  needs  an  environment  that  stimu-  Reveal  the 

.  Altruistic 

lates  and  appreciates  it.  This  environment  we  cannot  Nature. 
always  count  upon  in  the  home.  Not  infrequently 
cuffs  and  kicks  and  cruel  blows  are  the  daily  portion  of 
at  least  some  of  our  pupils  in  their  so-called  homes. 
They  have  never  been  shown  that  consideration  we 
desire  them  to  show  others ;  they  are  ignorant  of  kind- 
ness. For  such  we  must  supply  in  the  school  that  en- 
vironment stimulative  of  altruism  which  they  lack  in 
the  home.  Show  forth  kindness  to  these  in  word  and 
look  and  deed,  and  their  blunted  and  dwarfed  natures 
receive  the  quickening  of  a  revelation,  and  respond  in 
gratitude  and  loyalty  to  you  like  flowers  to  the  sun  from 
out  unpromising  soil.  Even  the  best  of  mortals  are 
loving  because  some  one  first  loved  them.  But  a 
word  of  caution  is  necessary  at  this  point.  Kindness 
unappreciated  can  spoil  its  recipient.  Therefore  be 
just.  To  the  law  of  kindness  in  the  lips,  where  it  be- 
comes a  stumbling-block  of  offence,  let  discernment  add 
a  firm  justice. 

A  great  deal  of  the  narrowness  in  the  range  of  our  Develop 

0  ...  Imagination. 

sympathies  comes  from  an  undeveloped  imagination. 


236     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

The  sufferings  that  occur  under  our  eyes  receive  their 
instinctive  response ;  but  the  far-off  victims  of  famine, 
pestilence,  fire,  flood,  and  war  reach  only  the  outskirts 
of  our  intellects,  like  fictitious  characters  in  a  tale, 
rather  than  strike  through  to  the  deeps  of  our  emotional 
life,  and  so  give  us  the  sense  that  they  are  real  men  and 
women,  boys  and  girls,  like  ourselves.  The  trouble  is 
with  our  imagination  that  cannot  see  round  the  earth, 
nor  round  a  corner,  nor  into  another  life  unlike  our 
own  comfortable  existence.  How  this  imagination 
that  can  picture  to  us  both  the  needs  and  the  values  of 
a  distant  life  is  to  be  developed  is  a  hard  problem.1 
Perhaps  less  reading  of  the  unreal  sufferings  of  charac- 
ters in  fiction  for  whom  we  can  do  nothing  and  more 
contact  with  the  real  sufferings  of  characters  hi  our 
community  for  whom  we  can  do  something  would 
help.  The  visualizing  of  the  far-away  calamities,  after 
the  analogy  of  these  known  experiences,  would  serve 
to  bring  the  remote  near.  And  to  take  part  in  sending 
some  relief  to  the  children  of  misfortune  will  stimulate 
both  the  imagination  and  the  feeling  of  fellowship. 
Teach  the  But  there  are  certain  ideas,  as  well  as  deeds  and  the 

Unity  of  the      ...  . 

Race.  imagination,  which  afford  a  nucleus  for  the  growth  of 

altruistic  sentiments.  One  of  these  is  the  idea  of  the 
unity  of  the  human  race,  the  blood  relationship  of  all 
mankind,  the  offspring  of  a  common  Father,  brethren  of 
a  common  life,  and  heirs  of  a  common  eternity.  Teach 
and  exemplify  this  lesson  in  the  sense  in  which  you 
believe  it  and  yourself  feel  it.  Men  are  born  free; 

1  See  Professor  James's  Essay,  "  On  a  Certain  Blindness  in  Human 
Nature,"  in  his  "Talks  to  Teachers." 


Developing  the   Altruistic   Feelings      237 

they  are  not  born  equal  in  capacity  or  in  opportunity. 
The  idea  of  human  kinship  suggests  that  the  capable  and 
the  privileged  share  the  burdens  of  the  less  capable  and 
the  less  privileged  as  children  of  one  family  whose 
Head  is  no  respecter  of  persons. 
There  are  certain  ideals  too  whose  presence  in  con-  Speak  for 

.  .  i    r          i  tf>e  Ideals  of 

sciousness  stimulates  regard  for  the  common  welfare,  Living, 
such  as  goodness,  beauty,  chivalry,  and  charity.  Pupils, 
like  other  people,  are  responsive  to  ideals  that  have 
passed  out  of  vagueness  and  generality  into  precision 
and  concreteness.  What  is  it  to  lead  the  good,  the 
beautiful,  the  loving  type  of  life?  It  is  to  recognize 
the  present  definite  situation  which  permits  one  person 
to  help  another,  it  is  to  perform  that  single  serviceable 
act  in  simplicity  of  mind,  it  is  to  feel  in  consequence  that 
nothing  has  been  done  worthy  of  mention,  that  the  ser- 
vant is  unprofitable  to  his  master,  and  but  delighting 
to  do  what  is  his  duty  to  do.  Speak  for  the  ideals  of 
living,  let  them  enkindle  the  feelings  of  brotherly  kind- 
ness, and  annex  them  in  some  fashion  to  the  next  deed 
to  be  done. 

And,  in  developing  the  altruistic  feelings,  my  last  J^J^m 
suggestion  is,  get  for  the  school  a  share  in  the  current  Sympathies, 
sympathies  that  ever  and  anon  are  sweeping  over  our 
country.     Like  suggestion  through  a  crowd,  a  wave  of 
sympathy  passes  over  our  nation;  its  President  is  as- 
sassinated, its  dwellers  on  the  gulf  are  swept  away  with 
a  flood,  it  goes  to  war  as  a  knight  for  the  relief  of  an 
oppressed  people  on  a  neighboring  isle  of  the  sea,  it 
resents  massacres  due  to  race  prejudice  abroad,  homes 
and  lives  are  taken  by  earthquak     and   fire  on  its 


238     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

western  coast, —  the  heart  of  the  nation  is  throbbing, 
and  the  school  must  feel  it.  Omitting  the  antipathies 
that  divide  men,  nations,  and  races,  the  school  must 
incorporate  those  pulsations  of  feeling  which  scorn  space 
and  race  and  make  us  one  with  our  fellows  the  world 
over. 

So  may  we  pass  from  the  egoism  of  boys  and  girls 
to  the  altruism  of  men  and  women  ! 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Evolutionary  Ethics. 

2.  Auguste  Comte. 

3.  Friedrich  Nietzsche. 

4.  Bernard  Shaw. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  ALTRUISTIC  FEELINGS 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  ch.  XVII. 

Griggs,  Moral  Education,  ch.  V. 

James,  Briefer  Psychology,  pp.  444-448. 

Sully,  The  Teachers'  Handbook  of  Psychology,  pp.  461-468. 

4th  ed. 
Thilly,  "The   Philosophy   of  Friedrich    Nietzsche,"     Popular 

Science  Monthly,  December,  1905. 
Thomas,  L'Education  des  Sentiments,  chs.  XV-XIX. 


CHAPTER  XX 

AESTHETIC   EDUCATION 

WE  now  come  to  a  consideration  of  the  last  and  its  Nature, 
largest  reach  of  the  emotional  life  of  man,  viewed  in  its 
comparative  distinctness  from  the  other  elements  of 
his  nature.  The  highest  development  of  the  life  of 
feeling  is  in  its  relationship  to  the  ideal  of  beauty.  By 
aesthetic  education  is  meant  the  cultivation  of  taste, 
the  development  of  the  sense  of  beauty  inherent  in  all, 
resulting  in  the  enjoyment,  the  critical  appreciation, 
and  sometimes  the  production,  of  works  of  art.  Taste 
involves  an  intellectual  discernment  of  artistic  values 
as  well  as  an  emotional  sensitiveness  to  artistic  products. 
As  Sully  expresses  it,  "The  aesthetic  faculty  or  taste 
consists  of  the  combination  of  the  emotional  susceptibil- 
ity to  the  pleasurable  effects  of  what  is  charming,  noble, 
and  so  on,  with  the  intellectual  power  of  discriminating, 
comparing,  and  judging."  l  The  primary  purpose  in 
aesthetic  education  is  to  bring  pupils  into  the  enjoyment 
of  the  great  natural  and  human  artistic  products. 
Secondary  to  this  is  the  purpose  of  enabling  them  to 
estimate  artistic  values.  And  secondary  to  both  of  these 
is  the  purpose  of  making  them  producers  of  art.  As 
Ruskin  has  it,  "  It  is  surely  a  more  important  thing  for 
young  people  and  unprofessional  students  to  know  how 

1  Sully,  "  Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  540. 
239 


240     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

to  appreciate  the  art  of  others  than  to  gain  much  power 
in  art  themselves."  *  If  we  succeed  as  teachers  in 
bringing  pupils  into  the  intelligent  enjoyment  of  art, 
we  may  trust  nature  to  make  artists  of  such  of  them  as 
she  will. 

Because  of  our  present  practical  purpose,  there  are 
many  attractive  subjects  at  this  point  whose  discussion 
we  must  forego,  such  as,  the  nature  of  the  aesthetic 
emotion ;  its  development  in  the  race  and  the  individual ; 
the  instincts  with  which  it  is  particularly  connected, 
such  as  the  social  and  the  playful;  the  nature  and 
characteristics  of  beauty;  and  the  relations  of  beauty 
and  sublimity.2  Passing  by  these  fascinating  inquiries 
as  not  bearing  immediately  on  our  endeavor  to  culti- 
vate the  taste  of  young  people,  though  presupposing 
some  of  the  results  of  such  inquiries,  let  us  notice  both 
the  neglect  and  the  importance  of  aesthetic  education 
in  our  day,  and  then  see  what  the  school  should  do  to 
develop  the  aesthetic  sense  of  its  pupils. 

Viewed  in  comparison  with  physical,  intellectual,  or 
moral  education,  it  may  with  practical  certainty  be 
said  that  aesthetic  education  is  suffering  neglect  in 
modern  schools.  This  is  evidenced  by  three  considera- 
tions. 

First,  as  a  part  of  the  emotional  life  of  pupils,  aesthetic 
education  in  particular  has  suffered  the  fate  of  emotional 
education  in  general,  that  is,  it  has  had  no  independent 

1  Quoted  by  Samson,  "Elements  of  Art  Criticism,"  p.  195. 

2  For  these  and  similar  matters,  cf.  Miss  Puffer,  "The  Psychology 
of  Beauty." 


Esthetic  Education  241 

footing  in  the  usual  run  of  common  modern  educational 
opinion.  Even  Herbart,  for  example,  gives  the  feel- 
ings no  independent  place  beside  intellect  and  will, 
nor  do  Schopenhauer,  Fechner,  and  Paulsen.  The 
emotions,  including  the  aesthetic  sense,  have  usually 
been  catalogued  with  will. 

Second,  the  place  occupied  by  the  art  subjects  in  the  Small  Place 
curriculum  is  not  at  all  comparable  with  the  intel-  Curriculum, 
lectual  subjects,   nor  even  with  the  moral  subjects. 
The  sciences  are  more  prominent  than  art,  I  mean  all 
the  sciences  taken  together,  —  the  linguistic  as  well  as 
the  physical  and  natural,  and  the  historical  and  social 
subjects  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  in  courses  and  hours 
to  the  art   studies.     Literature,   drawing,   and    vocal 
music  practically  carry  the  burden  of  the  educational 
values  in  art. 

And  third,  expert  and  influential  educational  opinion  ^^f^ 
has  omitted  to  dignify  the  courses  of  art,  too  frequently  Discussion, 
still  referred  to  as  the  "fads  and  frills"  in  education. 
In  his  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  for  instance,  Rosen- 
kranz  gives  no  significant  attention  to  the  ideal  of 
beauty,  no  consideration  comparable  to  that  bestowed 
upon  the  ideals  of  health,  truth,  morality,  and  religion. 
Herbert  Spencer,  to  take  another  instance,  whose  essays 
on  education  have  been  so  influential  for  nearly  fifty 
years,  and  have  been  ranked  by  W.  H.  Payne  with  the 
"Emile"  of  Rousseau  and  the  "Republic"  of  Plato  as 
the  world's  three  classics  on  the  subject,  is  openly  neg- 
lectful of  the  aesthetic  interests.  Writing  of  the  accom- 
plishments, the  fine  arts,  belles-lettres,  etc.,  Spencer  says 
"As  they  occupy  the  leisure  part  of  life,  so  should  they 


242     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

occupy  the  leisure  part  of  education."  This  spirit  of 
Spencer,  that  puts  the  useless  last,  is  dominating  both 
our  education  and  our  lives.  An  age  of  utility  that 
judges  the  fitness  of  things  to  survive  by  the  biological 
standard  of  their  use  in  the  struggle  for  existence  has 
found  little  place  for  the  useless,  even  though  it  be 
beautiful. 


Rousseau  on 

Esthetic 

Education. 


Plato  on 
Esthetic 
Education. 


It  was  not  ever  so  in  educational  opinion  as  we  go 
backward,  nor  can  it  long  remain  so,  for  aesthetic 
education  is  in  importance  second  to  none.  The  general 
aim  of  Emile's  education  is  not  very  lofty,  namely,  to 
quote  Davidson,1  "to  prepare  him,  not  for  a  life  of 
earnest,  determined  moral  struggle  and  self-sacrifice, 
but  for  a  life  of  quiet,  cleanly,  assured  sensuous  delight ; 
not  for  a  life  of  active  enterprise,  but  for  a  life  of  passive 
dalliance."  Yet,  even  with  this  low  general  aim, 
Rousseau  placed  a  high  estimate  upon  the  value  of 
aesthetic  education,  writing,  "My  principal  object  hi 
teaching  him  to  feel  and  love  the  beautiful  in  all  its 
forms  is  to  fix  his  affections  and  his  tastes,  to  prevent 
his  natural  appetites  from  degenerating,  and  himself 
from  one  day  seeking  in  his  riches  the  means  of  happi- 
ness which  he  ought  to  find  nearer  home."  2  These 
words  might  well  describe  American  society  to-day,  in 
which,  as  Edward  Atkinson  says,  the  ability  to  make 
money  easily  transcends  the  ability  to  spend  it  wisely. 

Going  back  to  Plato  we  find  even  a  loftier  ami  of 
education  than  that  proclaimed  by  Spencer  in  his 

1  Davidson,  "Rousseau,"  p.  177. 
1  Op.  cit.,  p.  176. 


/Esthetic  Education  243 

famous  statement,  "To  fit  us  for  complete  living  is 
the  function  which  education  has  to  discharge,"  for 
to  Plato  this  statement  would  have  been  acceptable, 
but  to  him  "complete  living"  would  have  contemplated 
also  the  soul's  unending  destiny,  and  not  simply,  as 
with  Spencer,  its  here  and  now  phenomenal  existence. 
The  message  of  Greece  to  the  modern  world  is  beauty. 
Concerning  those  who  are  to  be  the  educated  leaders 
in  the  ideal  state,  Plato  writes:  "We  would  not  have 
our  guardians  grow  up  amid  images  of  moral  deformity, 
as  in  some  noxious  pasture,  and  there  browse  and  feed 
upon  many  a  baneful  herb  and  flower  day  by  day, 
little  by  little,  until  they  silently  gather  a  festering  mass 
of  corruption  in  their  own  soul.  Let  our  artists  rather 
be  those  who  are  gifted  to  discern  the  true  nature  of 
beauty  and  grace :  then  will  our  youth  dwell  in  a  land 
of  health,  amid  fair  sights  and  sounds:  and  beauty, 
the  effluence  of  fair  works,  will  meet  the  sense  like  a 
breeze,  and  insensibly  draw  the  soul  even  in  childhood 
into  harmony  with  the  beauty  of  reason. 

"There  can  be  no  nobler  training  than  that,  he  re- 
plied." 1 

The  Greek  word  to  modern  education  is  a  beautiful 
mind  in  a  beautiful  body,  which  we,  as  a  practical 
people,  so  much  need  in  order  to  supplement  the  prac- 
tical Roman's  ideal  which  has  proven  so  acceptable 
to  us  of  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body. 

Having  now  seen  the  comparative  neglect  of  aesthetic  T* 

•          .  .  .11  tance  of 

education  m  modern  times,  and  reviewed  the  great  esthetic 

Education. 
1  "  Republic,"  p.  401  D,  Jowett  Tr. 


244     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

names  of  Spencer,  Rousseau,  and  Plato  on  this  pressing 
question,  let  us  now  see  the  real  importance  of  cultivat- 
ing their  sense  of  beauty  in  our  pupils.  From  four 
points  of  view  this  importance  may  be  indicated,  which 
we  may  name  the  recreative,  the  sociological,  the  psy- 
chological, and  the  ethical. 
The  Recrea-  ^n  genetic  education  introduces  and  keeps  the  play 

tive  Value  of  J 

^Esthetic  element  in  the  intellectual  life  of  man,  thus  affording 
hmi  constant  and  needed  recreation  as  he  goes  about 
the  day's  work.  The  aesthetic  emotion  is  pleasure  in  the 
perception  of  the  beautiful.  The  objects  that  usually 
excite  it  are  fine  buildings,  good  pieces  of  statuary,  a 
picture,  a  poem,  a  musical  composition,  or  some  attrac- 
tive scene  of  nature.  Upon  these  the  mind  dwells  in 
happy  contemplation,  not  because  of  their  utility,  but 
because  of  their  perfection.  For  their  own  sakes,  not 
for  their  use  to  us,  they  are  aesthetically  enjoyed.  Art 
does  not  send  us  seeking  further  for  satisfaction,  it 
provides  satisfaction  here  and  now  for  us.  The  pleasure 
taken  in  anything  for  its  own  sake  is  an  aesthetic  pleas- 
ure. Even  the  day's  routine  duties  are  capable  of 
artistic  performance.  So  to  perform  them  makes 
work  a  satisfaction  instead  of  drudgery.  The  soul  with 
a  love  for  aesthetic  values  is  thus  continually  refreshed 
both  through  the  elements  of  art  in  its  environment, 
and  through  the  quality  of  perfection  which  it  introduces 
into  its  own  work.  The  escape  of  the  soul  from  its 
labor  through  some  artistic  piece  led  Schopenhauer  to 
describe  art  as  "a  momentary  liberation,"  and  the 
finding  of  satisfaction  in  its  labor  makes  service  a  de- 
light. The  same  play  instinct  which  in  animals  and 


Esthetic  Education  245 

children  leads  them  to  do  things,  even  fatiguing  things, 
for  the  mere  joy  of  doing  them  is  responsible  for  that 
play  of  man's  imagination  which  leads  him  into  both 
the  production  and  the  enjoyment  of  art.  Whatsoever 
preserves  the  play  element  in  man's  conscious  busy  life, 
as  art  does,  increases  the  sum  of  human  enjoyment, 
adds  a  clear  gain  to  human  existence,  and  is  so  an 
absolute  human  benefit. 
Second,  from  the  sociological  point  of  view,  aesthetic  r 

logical   View 

education  is  essential  in  the  adjustment  of  man  to  his  of  the  Value 
complete  racial  environment.  The  race  has  bequeathed 
to  us  science  and  history  and  art.  It  is  the  business 
of  education  to  secure  the  appropriation  of  these 
heritages  by  the  new  generation.  To  omit  the  element 
of  art  is  so  far  forth  to  fail  in  an  essential  endeavor  of 
education.  A  soul  unawakened  aesthetically  cannot 
feel  itself  a  part  of  all  it  meets ;  it  may  be  at  home  in 
the  realm  of  scientific  fact  and  of  historic  deed,  but  not 
of  human  ideals.  For  our  joy  and  inspiration  these 
human  ideals  have  been  embodied  in  visible  forms  by 
the  artist  geniuses  of  the  race. 
Third,  from  the  psychological  point  of  view,  aesthetic  The  P1"*- 

r  J  tional  value 

education  is  necessary  for  the  complete  development  of  of  Art.viewed 
the  individual  consciousness.  This  consciousness  is  as 
truly  emotional  in  character  as  it  is  intellectual  or 
volitional.  And  the  sense  of  beauty  is  the  finest  dif- 
ferentiation of  the  life  of  feeling  in  man.  The  coldness 
of  intellectuality  and  the  narrowness  of  practicality  are 
warmed  and  widened  through  the  love  of  the  beautiful. 
To  an  intellectual  soul  beauty  says  there  are  values  that 
can  be  felt  which  cannot  be  described;  to  a  practical 


246     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

soul  beauty  says  there  are  useless  things  which  are  also 
precious.  The  knowledge  of  the  truth  makes  one  dis- 
cerning, but  not  tender ;  the  volition  of  the  good  makes 
one  correct,  but  not  attractive ;  it  is  the  love  of  beauty 
that  unifies  a  life  in  one  perfect  whole. 
The  Ethical  And  fourth,  there  is  also  an  ethical  value  in  aesthetic 

Value  of  Art.  .,  ... 

education,  though  to  state  it  precisely  is  not  easy,  in 
consequence  of  which  there  is  much  confusion  at  this 
point.  Vice  seen  in  its  true  proportions  is  monstrous, 
hideous,  ugly ;  goodness  seen  in  its  true  proportions  is 
attractive,  winsome,  beautiful.  But  vice  often  gilds 
itself  and  becomes  deceptively  attractive,  and  goodness 
often  shows  itself  in  Puritanic  severity  of  outline,  and 
becomes  repellent.  Now,  in  proportion  as  vice  is  seen 
to  be  ugly,  the  aesthetic  soul  eschews  it;  and  in  pro- 
portion as  goodness  is  seen  to  be  beautiful,  the  aesthetic 
soul  chooses  it.  Thus  in  each  case  the  deed  is  in  con- 
formity with  the  moral  standard,  its  content  is  correct, 
but  the  motives  have  been  in  each  case  aesthetic  rather 
than  moral.  The  deed  is  moral  in  content  and  aesthetic 
in  intent.  Such  a  deed  has  not,  of  course,  the  ethical 
value  of  one  done  for  righteousness*  sake  instead  of 
for  beauty's  sake,  but  it  does  have  all  the  ethical  value 
that  attaches  to  deeds  in  distinction  from  motives,  and 
this  is  great,  if,  as  Professor  James  phrases  it,  we  are 
to  know  characters  by  their  fruits  instead  of  by  their 
roots. 

The  Herbart  will  serve  us  as  an  example  from  the  list  of 

Herbart°      educators  who  have  recognized  the  ethical  value  of 

aesthetic  education.     His  example  is  the  more  striking 

as  he  makes  morality  the  end  of  education  and  would 


^Esthetic  Education  247 

make  beauty  the  means  to  attain  the  end.  He  writes : 
"The  one  problem,  the  whole  problem,  of  education 
may  be  comprised  in  a  single  concept,  —  morality.  .  .  . 
Such  a  [an  aesthetic]  presentation  of  the  universe,  of 
all  the  world  that  is  known,  in  order  to  efface,  if  need 
be,  the  evil  impressions  of  unfavorable  surroundings, 
may  justly  be  termed  the  chief  office  of  education.  .  .  . 
Periods  which  no  master  has  described  and  whose 
spirit  no  poet  breathes  are  of  little  value  to  education."  * 
Likewise  George  Eliot  writes  in  "Romola,"  "It  seems 
to  me  beauty  is  part  of  the  finished  language  by  which 
goodness  speaks." 

These  things  concerning  the  importance  of  aesthetic  The  Problem 

,    of  .Esthetic 

education  bring  us  to  face  with  care  the  practical  Education, 
question  of  what  our  aesthetic  problem  is  and  how  it  is 
to  be  solved  in  our  schools.  Our  problem  is  to  cultivate 
the  sense  of  beauty,  to  secure  an  aesthetic  consciousness. 
The  sense  of  beauty  is  cultivated  when  the  eyes  and  ears 
and  soul  are  open  to  the  perfections  of  the  work  of  man 
and  nature;  when  a  badly  constructed  building  of- 
fends; when  the  eye  rests  with  content  upon  a  perfect 
statue  or  a  splendid  picture;  when  the  ear  enjoys  a 
symphony,  and  the  soul  is  thrilled  with  the  meaningful 
messages  of  literature ;  when  the  hills  give  strength,  and 
the  sky  exaltation ;  when  the  mountain  lake  gives  peace 
and  the  ocean  stirs  a  divine  discontent  within ;  when  the 
rainbow  gives  promise,  and  the  sunset,  vision,  and  the 

1  Herbart,  "A  B  C  of  Sense-Perception,"  pp.  92,  107,  113,  Tr. 
Eckoff. 

The  classic  discussion  of  the  influence  of  the  aesthetic  sense  on  the 
moral  sense  is  in  Schiller's  "./Esthetic  Prose." 


248     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

evening  time,  light;  when  the  night  brings  no  terror, 
and  the  storm  a  sublime  awe ;  when  all  the  visible  and 
audible  forms  of  nature  quicken  in  man  the  sense  that 
the  perfect  is  here  about  us  in  the  material  world  and 
only  waiting  to  be  enjoyed;  when,  in  short,  man's 
nature  is  offended  at  all  ugliness  and  rejoices  in  all 
beauty.  Such  aesthetic  experiences  Wordsworth  has 
described  in  the  wonderful  lines :  — 

I  have  felt 

A  presence  that  disturbs  me  with  the  joy 
Of  elevated  thoughts ;  a  sense  sublime 
Of  something  far  more  deeply  interfused, 
Whose  dwelling  is  the  light  of  setting  suns, 
And  the  round  ocean,  and  the  living  air, 
And  the  blue  sky,  and  in  the  mind  of  man; 
A  motion  and  a  spirit  that  impels 
All  thinking  things,  all  objects  of  all  thought, 
And  rolls  through  all  things. 

In  such  aesthetic  experiences  we  are  emotionally  one 
with  the  beautiful  object  we  enjoy.  It  is  the  highest 
type  of  experience  known  to  man,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  the  religious,  in  which  the  element  of  perfec- 
tion in  beauty  is  personified  and  with  which  man  is  then 
consciously  united. 

utilize  the          How  shall  this  sense  of  beauty  be  cultivated  in  the 

Influence  of          ,        ,  _.  .     ,,    .  ...          ,       .     _ 

Environ-  schools?  First  of  all,  let  us  utilize  the  influence  of  en- 
vironment. The  great  art  educator  is  continuous, 
attentive  association  with  the  best  works  of  beauty. 
The  homes  from  which  children  come,  back  to  which 
they  go,  help  or  hinder  us  aesthetically,  and  otherwise. 


Esthetic  Education  249 

Through  the  influence  of  parents'  meetings  and  the 
children  themselves,  the  homes  should  increasingly  be- 
come orderly  and  tasteful.  An  artistic  school  environ- 
ment will  include  such  elements  as  an  architecturally 
attractive  school  building,  beautiful  and  well-kept 
grounds,  a  school  garden  tended  by  pupils  and  directed 
by  teachers,  and  interior  decoration  of  pictures,  stat- 
uary, attractive  furnishings,  with  growing  plants  and 
flowers,  together  with  an  illustrated  and  readable 
magazine  of  art.  Two  characteristics  at  least  the  art 
of  the  schoolroom  should  possess  :  it  should  be  artistic 
and  interesting.  Better  a  few  good  pieces  of  real  art 
that  fix  right  standards  of  beauty  than  many  second- 
rate  things.  Interesting  art  to  children  deals  with  such 
themes  as  children,  animals,  action,  movement,  with 
groups  and  colors.  Buildings,  individuals,  static  scenes, 
and  black  and  white  things  are  for  most  pupils  unin- 
teresting themes. 
Second,  we  need  to  make  a  larger  place  for  the  art  Enlarge  the 

.        ,  .      .  Art  Element 

subjects  in  the  curriculum.     Literature  is  perhaps  the 


only  one  of  the  arts  that  has  to-day  a  fairly  adequate  nculum- 
place  in  the  curriculum.  Good  representatives  of  each 
of  the  other  arts  ought  to  be  there  also.  Vocal  music, 
particularly  the  concert  singing,  needs  to  be  improved, 
and,  through  the  use  of  the  mechanical  devices  for 
pianofortes  so  common  to-day,  pupils  should  become 
acquainted  with  the  masterpieces  of  the  great  composers. 
Work  in  wood,  clay,  metal,  etc.,  should  continue  to  come 
into  its  deserved  place,  for  aesthetic,  as  well  as  utilitarian,. 
purposes.  And  the  elements  of  form  and  color  should 
be  taught  in  drawing  and  art  courses.  Drawing  is 


250     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

itself  another  language  whereby  ideas  are  expressed  and 
images  portrayed.  In  his  "Modem  Painters,"  Ruskin 
writes,  "I  have  no  doubt  that  every  child  in  a  civilized 
country  should  be  taught  ...  to  sing  perfectly,  so 
far  as  it  has  capacity,  and  to  draw  any  definite  form 
accurately  to  any  scale."  Professor  Miinsterberg  is  of 
the  opinion  that "  the  future  battles  against  this  country's 
greatest  enemy,  vulgarity,  will  be  fought  largely  with 
the  weapons  which  the  drawing  teachers  supply  to  the 
masses."1  And  in  an  address  on  "The  Appreciation 
of  Beauty,"  President  Eliot2  recently  said:  "The  best 
place  to  inculcate  the  love  of  the  beautiful  is  the  school- 
room. To  the  rising  generation  the  most  effective 
lessons  can  be  given,  and  from  the  school  millions  of 
children  will  carry  the  lessons  to  millions  of  homes. 
After  reading,  spelling,  writing,  and  ciphering  with 
small  numbers  and  in  simple  operations,  drawing 
should  be  the  most  important  common  school  subject." 
improve  Third,  we  need  to  improve  school  methods  where  they 

Methods  of  J",  J 

Teaching  touch  art  matters.  The  teaching  of  nature  study 
cts'  needs  to  become  not  less  scientific,  but  more  sympathetic 
and  appreciative.  Reading  lessons  may  with  interest 
and  profit  be  illustrated  by  the  pupils.  Young  minds 
need  to  be  feasted  with  the  racial  imaginings ;  the  true 
literature  for  the  child  is  not  that  written  for  him,  but 
the  simpler  epics  and  mythologies  of  the  race.  Our 
curriculum  has  been  classicized  in  its  imaginative  ele- 
ment, so  that  now  we  need,  not  so  much  more  of  Homer 
and  of  Virgil,  as  of  the  stories  of  the  Old  Testament 

1  Miinsterberg,  "Psychology  and  Life,"  p.  147. 

2  Eliot,  "The  Appreciation  of  Beauty,"  Critic,  August,  1905. 


Esthetic  Education  251 

and  the  Norse  Eddas.  The  latter  are  particularly  our 
birthright,  and  too  long  Saxon  children  have  been  de- 
prived of  consciously  living  through  the  imaginative 
experiences  of  their  own  primitive  forbears.  In  the 
teaching  of  literature,  perhaps  not  less  of  the  linguistic, 
philological,  and  grammatical,  but  more  appreciation  of 
literary  form  and  ideals,  is  our  need.  The  museum 
and  art  gallery,  where  accessible,  should  be  utilized 
by  groups  of  children  for  observation  and  study,  and 
school  excursions  may  profitably  be  made  to  great 
natural  or  human  works  of  art.  And  then  there  are 
the  omnipresent  natural  scenic  effects,  of  whatsoever 
character,  if  we  but  have  the  attentive  interest  with 
which  to  regard  and  utilize  them  in  quickening  the 
aesthetic  sense.  Schiller  says,  "Works  of  the  imagina- 
tion have  the  peculiarity  of  not  permitting  idle  enjoy- 
ment, but  of  stirring  into  activity  the  minds  of  those 
who  contemplate  them."  Exercise  the  aesthetic  sense, 
then,  through  letting  pupils  contemplate  works  of  art, 
and  write  down  their  simple,  natural  impressions. 
"The  pupil  should  study  and  analyze  a  series  of  works 
from  the  great  masters,  describing  in  language  in  the 
form  of  essays  the  general  theme  and  the  methods 
adopted  of  making  the  work  of  art  tell  its  own  story, 
the  technical  difficulties  and  successful  devices  of  the 
artist  in  completing  his  work  of  art."  1 

Fourth,  cultivate  a  school  spirit  that  stimulates  the 

aesthetically 

aesthetic  sense.     Such  a  spirit  will  include  at  least  the  stimulating 
elements    of    freedom,    leisure,    and  excellence.     The  s 
sense  of  freedom  in  the  school  means  that  individuality  Freedom- 

1  Proc.  N.  E.  A.t  1893,  p.  473. 


252     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

is  not  cramped,  but  is  permitted  to  express  itself  in  its 
natural  chosen  way.  The  boy  who  persists  in  drawing 
when  he  should  be  studying  arithmetic  may  be  made 
uncomfortable  or  he  may  be  provided  with  crayon  and 
paper.  To  do  the  one  is  to  repress,  to  do  the  other  is 
to  stimulate,  individual  growth.  Perhaps  the  greatest 
thing  a  teacher  can  do  for  a  pupil-  is  to  discover  that 
pupil's  talent  to  himself. 

Leisure.  The  sense  of  leisure  in  the  school  means  less  restless- 

ness of  spirit  and  more  opportunity  hi  which  to  grow 
aesthetically.  It  means  not  so  much  doing  less  than  we 
now  do,  though  in  some  cases  it  means  this  too,  but  rather 
the  sense  of  being  unhurried.  We  must  work,  often 
rapidly,  but  the  patience  must  be  there  in  which  alone 
we  possess  our  souls.  Nothing  artistic  is  either  pro- 
duced or  enjoyed  under  the  sense  of  hurry.  You  can- 
not hustle  beauty  nor  make  culture  hum.  America 
is  hurried  to-day,  the  school  is  hurried,  and  hurry  is 
inimical  to  artistic  development ;  it  is  bent  on  business, 
not  on  enjoyment.  We  need  to  recover  something  of 
that  cultured  leisure  which  the  Greeks  represented  by 
theoria,  and  for  which  Erasmus  longed  under  the  term 
otium.  The  shorter  course  always  omits  art,  for  it  is 
rushing  toward  a  practical  conclusion,  while  art  has 
repose  in  itself. 

Excellence.  The  sense  of  excellence  is  secured  by  insisting  upon 
a  certain  perfection  of  quality  in  every  piece  of  school 
work  done.  He  who  has  done  one  thing  perfectly  for 
its  own  sake  is  an  artist ;  he  is  kindred  to  all  the  artistic 
spirits  of  the  generations.  Many  pupils  have  never 
felt  the  sense  of  excellence  in  their  own  work,  they  have 


Aesthetic  Education  253 

never  been  stimulated  to  do  their  best;  but  the  pupil 
who  is  quietly  permitted  to  do  habitually  less  than  his 
best  is  being  unaesthetically  trained.  An  artist  has  that 
passion  for  the  perfect  which  leads  him  to  complete 
even  those  portions  of  his  work  which  human  eyes 
will  never  see.  And  something  of  the  artist  must  be  in 
us  before  we  can  appreciate  art. 
And  fifth,  we  must  ourselves  gradually  become 

*  Esthetic 

aesthetic  teachers,  aesthetic  in  the  conduct  of  a  recita-  Teachers, 
tion,  aesthetic  hi  the  rounded  achievement  of  the  day, 
aesthetic  in  appearance  and  manner.  Some  of  our  time 
and  some  of  our  money  must  go  into  self-culture,  into 
symphonies  and  poetry  and  pictures.  About  twenty 
per  cent  of  the  public  school  teachers  of  America  drop 
out  annually  and  others  fill  their  places;  in  every  five 
years  practically  the  whole  teaching  force  has  changed 
its  character;  it  is  during  the  first  three  years  only  of 
their  service  that  they  buy  books  in  mentionable  quan- 
tity; this  is  the  period  of  their  ambition.  And  yet  it 
is  also  true  of  teaching  that  where  the  vision  fails  the 
pupils  perish.  How  inspirational  is  the  teaching  per- 
sonality of  Socrates,  in  whose  prayer  uttered  under  a 
plane  tree  by  the  banks  of  the  Ilissus  the  American 
teacher  needs  to  join,  "Beloved  Pan,  and  all  ye  other 
gods  who  haunt  this  place,  give  me  beauty  in  the  in- 
ward soul;  and  may  the  outward  and  inward  man  be 
at  .one.  .  .  ." l  Our  knowledge  of  the  subjects  we 
teach  and  whatever  imitable  good  our  characters  may 
possess  are  without  the  touch  of  grace  until  beauty  be 
added,  for,  as  Tennyson  sings :  — 

1  Plato,  "Phsdrus,"  279. 


254     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Beauty,  Good,  and  Knowledge  are  three  Sisters 
That  dote  upon  each  other,  friends  to  man, 
Living  under  the  same  roof, 
And  never  can  be  sundered  without  tears. 

Summary  of       Thus  we  have  fouowed  the  course  of  emotional  edu- 

Emotional 

Education,  cation  from  simplest  beginning  to  grandest  conclusion. 
We  have  seen  the  depth,  and  breadth,  and  height  of 
feelings  in  life,  that  they  are  dependent  forms  of  con- 
sciousness for  all  they  go  so  deep ;  that  they  are  to  be 
reached  through  action  and  through  ideas,  that  pleasure 
is  the  bright  foreground  and  pain  the  dark  background 
of  school  life,  that  the  coarser  emotions  are  to  be  con- 
trolled through  the  voluntary  muscles  and  the  redirec- 
tion of  attention,  that  the  altruistic  feelings  are  a  natural 
part  of  a  happy  wholesome  life,  and  that  the  sense  of 
beauty  is  nature's  best  gift  to  the  emotional  life  of  man. 
If  we  see  the  feelings  aright,  intertwined  with  all  the 
values  held  dear  to  man,  we  shall  recognize  that  in  them 
lies  life's  dynamic,  and  that  to  cleanse  the  heart,  whence 
are  the  issues  of  life,  is  the  high  service  emotional 
education  is  set  to  render. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Nature  of  the  ^Esthetic  Emotion. 

2.  The  Individual  and  Racial  Development  of  the  Esthetic 

Sense. 

3.  Sex,  Play,  and  Beauty. 

4.  The  Characteristics  of  Beauty. 

5.  Beauty  and  Sublimity. 

REFERENCES  ON  ESTHETIC  EDUCATION 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  pp.  96-99. 

Burrage  and  Bailey,  School  Sanitation  and  Decoration. 


Aesthetic  Education  255 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  Psychology  in  the  Schoolroom,  chs.  XVIII 

and  XIX. 

Johonnot,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  ch.  XII. 
Morgan,  Psychology  for  Teachers,  pp.  145-149. 
Puffer,  The  Psychology  of  Beauty. 
Ribot,  Psychology  of  the  Emotions,  ch.  X. 
Samson,  Elements  of  Art  Criticism,  pp.  192-197. 
Santayana,  The  Sense  of  Beauty. 
Schiller,  /Esthetic  Letters. 

Stanley,  Evolutionary  Psychology  of  Feeling,  ch.  XVIL 
Thomas,  L'E^ducation  des  Sentiments,  ch.  XXIV. 


PART   IV 

MORAL     EDUCATION,    OR     EDUCATING     THE 
MIND    TO    WILL 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  consciousness  that  constitutes  the  self  of  man  can  The  General 
think ;  it  also  feels ;  it  is  also  privileged  to  act.  We  are  Education, 
ready  to  begin  the  consideration  of  consciousness  in  its 
activity.  The  general  aim  of  moral  education  is  to 
secure  right  action  on  the  part  of  consciousness.  As 
truth  is  the  object  of  thinking,  and  beauty  of  feeling, 
so  goodness  is  the  object  of  willing.  The  good  will, 
that  is  our  aim.  The  good  will  means  that  the  inner 
activity  of  consciousness  is  smooth,  easy,  and  efficient 
as  well  as  that  right  deeds  are  done  from  right  motives. 
Moral  education  must  take  account  of  the  way  in  which 
consciousness  does  its  work,  as  well  as  its  incentives  and 
its  conduct.  There  is  an  intrinsic  as  well  as  an  extrin- 
sic goodness  to  be  secured  to  consciousness  by  moral 
education. 

The  roots  of  will  are  very  much  lower  down  in  the  Order  of 

....  Discussion. 

nervous  system  of  man  than  we  ordinarily  suppose. 
So  it  will  be  our  first  business  to  map  out  the  field  of 
will.  Then,  beginning  as  low  down  as  education  can 
reach,  even  with  instincts,  we  have  to  consider  various 
other  tap-roots  below  the  surface  of  choice,  such  as 
impulse,  imitation,  and  suggestion.  Then  comes  the 
familiar  matter  of  habits,  many  of  which  are  already 
fixed  for  us  when  the  power  of  deliberation  and  rational 
choice  finally  arises.  Then  follows  attention,  the  real 


260     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

essence  of  will,  the  right  education  of  which  both  at- 
tracts by  its  importance  and  repels  by  its  difficulty. 
This  then  be  our  order  of  march,  and  let  no  man  cry 
a  halt  until  the  will  of  the  child  is  fully  fashioned  by  all 
these  means  unto  all  good  works. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   FIELD  OF  WILL 

IN  introducing  the  discussion  of  educating  the  mind 
to  will,  we  must  first  see  something  of  the  general  field 
of  will.  This  bird's-eye  view  of  the  subject  may  be 
gotten  by  noticing  in  succession  the  function,  the  im- 
portance, the  nature,  and  the  development  of  will. 

By  the  function  of  the  will  we  mean  the  purpose  that  The  Func- 

J  .        .       tion  of  WilL 

it  serves,  its  utility  to  the  organism.  This  function  in 
the  case  of  the  will  seems  to  be  to  provide  the  organism 
with  a  means  of  adjustment  to  its  environment.  The 
means  is  in  most  general  terms  the  response  of  the  or- 
ganism to  its  stimuli.  Through  the  senses  the  world 
acts  on  the  organism,  through  the  muscles  the  organism 
reacts  on  the  world.  The  will  is  the  reagent  of  con- 
sciousness. So  far  it  is  evident  that  without  the  func- 
tion which  will  contributes,  man  would  be  an  automatic 
machine,  but  not  a  person. 

The  importance  of  the  will  in  individual  and  social  The  lm££~ 

tanceofWilL 

life  follows  from  its  function,  and  may  be  indicated  in 
the  following  ways.  In  the  individual,  the  will  is  the 
source  of  achievement  and  character;  it  keeps  the  in- 
tellect at  work  or  lets  it  idle ;  it  keeps  passion  and  un- 
seemly emotions  in  subjection  or  lets  them  overwhelm 
us;  it  realizes  the  capacity  which  nature  through 

261 


262     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

heredity  bestows,  or  wraps  it  in  a  napkin ;  it  improves 
the  opportunity  which  environment  allows,  or  fatally 
neglects  it;  it  stems  the  current  of  adverse  circum- 
stance, or  drifts  indifferently  to  an  alien  port.  This  in 
the  individual. 

In  society  the  will  is  the  responsible  agent  for  custom, 
morals,  law,  constitutions,  and  history;  in  the  form  of 
what  Schopenhauer  called  "the  will  to  live,"  of  what 
Darwin  called  "the  struggle  for  existence,"  of  what 
common  usage  calls  "the  instinct  of  self-preservation," 
or  "nature's  first  law,"  the  will  keeps  society  in  existence. 

Everywhere — hi  the  individual,  in  society,  in  nature, 
in  reality  as  embracing  all  —  that  there  is  movement, 
philosophy  would  probably  find  signs  of  will,  regarding 
all  temporal  changes  as  fulfilments  of  an  Absolute  Will. 
The  parts  seeking  their  adjustment  to  each  other  within 
the  whole,  this  is  the  function  and  importance  of  will. 

Two  Con-  From  this  it  is  evident  that  the  term  will  has  a  larger 
wm.°n  range  than  we  often,  perhaps  commonly,  think.  Indeed, 
it  is  serviceable  for  us  to  distinguish  two  conceptions  of 
will,  the  broad  and  the  narrow.  Narrowly,  and  per- 
haps commonly,  will  means  deliberation  issuing  hi 
conscious  choice.  It  is  action  mediated  by  ideas.  Its 
place  in  action  is,  comparatively  speaking,  small,  but 
critical. 

The  broad  conception  of  will  includes  the  narrow  as 
the  highest  stage  in  the  development  of  will.  The 
highest  response  of  an  organism  to  its  stimuli  is  in- 
telligent, i.e.  it  is  a  deliberate  act.  But  to  this  the 
broad  conception  adds  the  biological  and  psychological 


The  Field  of  Will  263 

antecedents  of  conscious  choice.  To  hold  ourselves  to 
psychological  and  scientific  ground,  excluding  philo- 
sophical considerations,  the  broad  conception  of  will  is 
consciousness  in  action.  To  quote  Professor  Angell, 
"The  whole  mind  active,  this  is  will."1  This  broad 
sense  of  the  term  is  urged  upon  us  in  view  of  the  unity 
of  consciousness,  and  the  consequent  inability  to  find 
in  consciousness  a  distinct  faculty  of  choosing  indepen- 
dent of  the  other  forms  of  conscious  action.  So  our  next 
matter,  the  development  of  will,  will  be  treated  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  broad,  as  including  the  narrow, 
conception. 


The   question  as  to   the   development  of  the  will 

.          .,...,,,       opment  of 

contemplates  the  stages,  not  sharply  distinguishable  win. 
from  each  other,  in  the  growth  of  human  action  from 
childhood  to  maturity.  How  may  we  enumerate  the 
sources  of  human  action,  is  our  question.  A  complete 
answer  to  the  question  as  to  how  the  will  develops 
would  probably  include  a  discussion  of  the  following 
stages  :  — 

(i)  Spontaneous  action,  initiated  in  the  young  or- 
ganism by  the  growth  and  nutrition  of  the  nervous 
system  ;  (2)  reflex  action,  due  to  the  sensitiveness  of  the 
nervous  system  to  any  stimulation  external  to  itself; 
(3)  instinctive  action;  (4)  impulsive  action;  (5)  imita- 
tive action  ;  (6)  suggested  action  ;  (7)  habitual  action  ; 
(8)  chosen  action. 

In  the  discussions  that  follow  of  these  successive 
stages  in  the  genetic  account  of  will,  I  omit  from  our 

1  Angell,  "Psychology,"  p.  379. 


264     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

treatment  the  first  two  types  of  action,  viz.  spontaneous 
and  reflex  action,  since  these  are  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  teacher's  influence.  This  leaves  us,  then,  as  the  out- 
line of  our  following  discussions  and  as  representing  the 
stages  in  the  development  of  will  the  matters  of  in- 
stinct, impulse,  imitation,  suggestion,  habit,  and  choice. 
It  is  important  to  observe  that  though  we  discuss  the 
stages  in  this  order  as  best  representing  perhaps  the 
nature  of  will,  nevertheless  often  in  life  other  orders 
occur,  for  example  choice  before  habit.  In  connection 
with  the  discussion  of  each  stage  of  will,  we  must  con- 
sider the  corresponding  educational  training.1  And  as 
attention  in  its  two  forms,  involuntary  and  voluntary, 
covers  the  whole  range  of  will  from  instinct  to  choice, 
it  must  have  a  concluding  place. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  How  Will  gets  Control  of  Bodily  Action. 

2.  Spontaneous  Action. 

3.  Reflex  Action. 

4.  Schopenhauer's  Theory  of  Will. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  FIELD  OF  WILL 

Angell,  Psychology,  ch.  XX. 
Bain,  Emotions  and  the  Will,  pp.  297-314. 
Baldwin,  Feeling  and  Will,  ch.  XIII. 
Baldwin,  Methods  and  Processes,  ch.  XIII. 
Fothergill,  The  Will  Power,  ch.  I. 
James,  Briefer  Psychology,  ch.  XXVI. 
Knowlson,  The  Art  of  Thinking,  ch.  VIII. 
Kulpe,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  423-444. 

1  The  chapters  on  Instinct,  Impulse,  Imitation,  Suggestion,  and 
Choice  are  somewhat  enlarged  from  an  article  on  "The  Development 
and  Training  of  the  Will,"  in  the  School  Review,  October,  1905. 


The  Field  of  Will  265 

Ladd,  Outlines  of  Descriptive  Psychology,  ch.  XVII. 
Schaeffer,  Thinking  and  Learning  to  Think,  ch.  XDC 
Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  Book  IV,  ch.  X. 
Sully,  The  Human  Mind,  Vol.  II,  pp.  181-195. 

The  usual  discussions  of  the  education  of  the  will  are  not  so 
comminuted  as  in  the  succeeding  chapters,  so  I  will  append  here 
certain 

GENERAL  REFERENCES  ON  THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  WELL 

Adler,  Moral  Instruction  of  Children. 

Bain,  Emotions  and  the  Will,  chs.  IX  and  X. 

Bain,  Education  as  a  Science,  ch.  XII. 

Barnett,  Common  Sense  in  Education  and  Teaching,  chs.  I  and  II. 

Compayre*,  Psychology  Applied  to  Education,  ch.  XIII. 

De  Garmo,  Herbart,  Part  I,  chs.  IV  and  VII. 

Button,  School  Management,  ch.  VII. 

Fothergill,  The  Will  Power,  ch.  III. 

Fitch,  Lectures  on  Teaching,  ch.  IV. 

Harris,  Psychologic  Foundations  of  Education,  ch.  XXX. 

James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  ch.  XV. 

Johonnot,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  ch.  XIII. 

MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  Part  IV. 

Morgan,  Psychology  for  Teachers,  ch.  X. 

Spencer,  Education,  Essay  III. 

Sully,  Teacher's  Handbook  of  Psychology,  chs.  XIX  and  XX. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

THE  USE  OF  INSTINCTS  IN  EDUCATING 

NOTHING  characterizes  the  educational  theory  of  the 
last  fifteen  years  more  than  the  demand  that  the  in- 
stincts of  children  be  studied,  known,  and  utilized. 
The  feeling  is  that  somehow  here  are  the  bases  of  in- 
dividuality, and  unless  we  begin  here,  we  are  not  be- 
ginning low  enough  down.  Of  course  the  modern 
initiative  in  the  study  of  instincts  has  come  from  the 
biological  sciences. 

Earlier  Edu-       The  contrast  between  the  earlier  and  later  attitudes 

tude  toward    toward  instincts  is  rather  sharp,  showing  significantly 

instincts.        fae  modern   emphasis   on   the  unity  of  the  organic 

creation.    Until  recently  it  was  thought  that  instinct 

belonged  to  the  lower  animal  in  distinction  from  reason 

in  man.    The   consequent   educational   attitude   was 

neglect  of  the  instincts  as  educational  material ;  or  else 

they  were  to  be  rooted  out  as  belonging  to  the  lower 

natures ;  or  else,  indeed,  they  were  to  be  taught  to  obey 

'  ideas  as  their  governors. 

Modem  To-day,  on  the  other  hand,  instincts  are  held  to 

Attitude.  .  .  .  . 

characterize  man  as  truly  as  they  do  animals.  Man 
probably  has  all  the  instincts  that  the  animal  has,  and 
some  of  them,  like  constructiveness  and  imitation,  more 
highly  developed.  They  consequently  constitute  the 
alpha  of  the  teacher's  material.  They  cannot  be 

266 


The  Use  of  Instincts  in  Educating     267 

neglected,  for  they  would  run  riot;  they  cannot  be 
rooted  out,  for  they  lie  too  deep  in  the  nervous  system ; 
they  cannot  be  taught  to  obey  ideas  as  their  governors, 
for  they  are  instincts,  and  unwitting  of  ideas.  Taken 
together,  they  represent  a  chaos  of  conflicting  forces 
and  impulses.  The  wild  life  of  the  world  is  caged 
in  the  cerebro-spinal  nervous  system  of  the  veriest 
child.  The  moral  problem  of  elementary  educa- 
tion, stated  in  simplest  terms,  is  the  organization 
of  these  multiform  natural  and  inherited  instincts 
and  impulses. 

What  is  an  instinctive  act?  We  wonder  at  the  bird  The  Nature 
and  its  nest,  the  beaver  and  its  dam,  the  squirrel  and 
its  winter  nuts,  the  wasp  and  its  eggs,  the  bee  and  its 
comb,  the  ant  and  its  organized  society,  and  the  child 
and  its  toys.  All  these  illustrate  instincts.  The 
attempt  to  define  an  instinct  would  take  some  such  form 
as  this,  a  useful  act  without  prevision  of  the  end  in 
view.  Consciousness  at  first  seems  to  be  only  a  spec- 
tator; at  most  a  subsidiary  assistant,  finding  the 
material  upon  which  the  instinct  works,  but  never  the 
director  at  the  beginning. 

Physiologically,  an  instinct  is  a  complex  reflex,  i.e.  a 
series  of  reflexes  following  each  other  advantageously. 
It  is  an  inherited  nervous  mechanism,  a  kind  of  trans- 
mitted ancestral  habit. 

Into  the  fascinating  biological  problem  of  the  origin 
of  instincts  we  cannot  go,  as  beside  our  present  prac- 
tical purpose.  The  student  finds  here  great  names 
heading  conflicting  theories,  Darwin  for  "  natural  selec- 


268     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

tion,"  Wundt  for  "lapsed  intelligence,"  and  Baldwin 
for  "organic  selection." 

The  Princi-         But  our  practical  question  is,  how  must  the  teacher 

pie  in   Edu-       ,,.,..  .  .,  .11 

eating  the       deal  with  instincts  m  pupils?    with   these  inherited 

instincts.        accumulations  of  all  the  vast  life  of  the  past?    Neither 

neglect,  nor  oppress,  nor  extirpate,  nor  instruct;  but 

direct.      Direct    their    expression    toward    legitimate 

objects. 

Application         TO  apply  this  principle  to  some  of  the  commoner  and 

ofthisPrin-  r  J  r.         .r     . 

cipietoCer-  more  representative  instincts.  Children  are  naturally 
tam  instincts.  constructive  ?  Then  provide  courses  in  manual  train- 
ing and  domestic  science.  Children  are  full  of  play? 
Then  provide  ample  recesses  and  good  games,  and 
recognize  play  as  a  legitimate  educator  and  not  as  a 
necessary  waste  of  time.  Children  are  acquisitive? 
Then  provide  shelves  for  natural  history  specimens, 
encourage  collections  of  stamps,  pictures,  flowers,  etc. 
Children  obey  the  group  or  gang  impulse?  Then  let 
home  and  school  unite  in  organizing  proper  bands  and 
clubs.  Children  have  a  curiosity  surpassing  that  of 
any  creature?  Then  answer  patiently  their  question 
"Why?"  as  far  as  they  are  able  to  comprehend,  and 
suggest  further  related  questions  to  engage  and  develop 
their  interest.  Children  have  primitive  fears?  Arouse 
them,  not  by  hobgoblin  stories,  but  make  the  unavoid- 
able consequences  of  wrong-doing  such  as  justly  to 
excite  their  fear.  Children  so  easily  fly  into  a  passion  ? 
When  the  fury  is  past,  show  the  boy  some  wrong  in- 
flicted upon  the  innocent,  and  let  his  anger  kindle  as  a 
flame  to  right  it.  Children  are  secretive?  Agree  with 


The  Use  of  Instincts  in  Educating      269 

them  to  keep  all  evil  reports  about  another.  Children 
are  so  emulous  of  each  other  ?  Confront  each  one  with 
his  own  weak  past  self  to  excel.  They  are  envious  of 
another's  good  fortune?  Point  to  some  man  of  good 
character  as  having  the  best  treasure  and  secure  hero- 
worship.  And  so  on  through  the  list.  Study  the  in- 
stincts of  children;  catch  them  in  the  act,  and  direct 
them  toward  a  legitimate  object.  To  do  so  skilfully 
is  actually  to  fashion  the  good  will. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Origin  of  Instincts. 

2.  Sources  of  Variation  in  Instinctive  Action. 

3.  A  List  of  the  Human  Instincts. 

REFERENCES  ON  INSTINCT 

Angell,  Psychology,  chs.  XV  and  XVI. 

Baldwin,  Story  of  the  Mind,  ch.  III. 

Baldwin,  Social  and  Ethical  Interpretation,  pp.  185-195. 

James,  Briefer  Psychology,  ch.  XXV. 

Kirkpatrick,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  chs.  IV,  VI,  VII, 

IX-XIII. 

Lewes,  Physical  Basis  of  the  Mind,  pp.  463-475. 
Morgan,  Habit  and  Instinct,  chs.  II,  VI,  IX,  X. 
Morgan,  Animal  Life  and  Intelligence,  ch.  XI. 
Oppenheim,  Mental  Growth  and  Control,  ch.  V. 
Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  274-285. 
Spencer,  Psychology,  Part  IV,  ch.  V. 
Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  pp.  187-191. 
Wundt,  Human  and  Animal  Psychology,  pp.  388-406. 
Ziehen,  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Physiological  Psychology, 

ch.  XIII. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 


The  Nature 
of  Impulsive 
Acts. 


Advance 
over  Instinct. 


TRAINING  THE  IMPULSES 

BY  an  impulsive  act  we  mean  one  performed  at  the 
mere  thought  of  it,  "on  the  spur  of  the  moment,"  as 
we  say.  "  I  did  it  without  thinking,"  the  pupils  some- 
times say  self-excusingly.  There  is  a  type  of  impulsive 
individual,  with  whom  to  think  is  to  act.  A  certain 
degree  of  impulsiveness,  or  ideas  leading  immediately 
into  action,  characterizes  child  life.  Bain's  phrase  is 
ideo-motor  action;  no  considerable  interval  elapses 
between  the  mental  state  and  the  physical  act.  To 
think  the  word  is  to  speak  it,  to  see  the  attractive  object 
is  to  get  it,  to  hear  a  new  sound  is  to  seek  its  origin,  to 
think  of  stepping  over  a  certain  block  on  the  pavement 
is  to  do  so,  to  wonder  if  the  electric  light  is  turned 
off  is  to  go  and  see,  to  want  water  is  to  rise  and  get  it, 
and  so  on. 

The  advance  here  over  instinctive  action  is  tre- 
mendous; there  consciousness  at  most  was  a  helpful 
spectator  of  hereditary  responses  to  physical  stimuli; 
here  consciousness  is  the  immediate  cause  of  action. 
There  the  response  is  typical  and  racial  and  conserva- 
tive; here  it  is  novel,  individual,  and  progressive. 
There  action  was  uniform;  here  it  is  multiform.  In 
impulsive  action  the  basis  is  laid  for  addition  to  the  an- 
cestral capital.  The  individual  comes  into  prominence. 

370 


Training  the  Impulses  271 

The  great  danger  in  impulsive  action  is  that  the  wrong  Bad 
thing  is  thought  of  and  done.  This  cannot  be  alto-  mp 
gether  avoided.  The  only  thing  to  do  is  for  teacher  and 
pupil  to  recognize  such  deeds  as  wrong,  to  associate 
pain  in  some  way  with  the  wrong  deed,  and  trust 
inhibition  through  this  association  to  prevent  a  recur- 
rence. Illustrations  of  such  impulses  will  occur  to  you : 
the  impulse  to  trip  up  a  pupil  passing  by,  to  pull  the 
ear  of  the  boy  in  front,  to  whistle  in  school,  to  whisper 
to  the  neighbor,  to  step  on  the  match  on  the  floor;  in 
general,  to  do  thoughtlessly  everything  that  pops  into 
consciousness. 

Also  the  right  thing  is  sometimes  done  impulsively.  G°od 
The  good  thing  to  eat  is  shared,  the  little  fellow  is  pro- 
tected from  his  bullies,  a  fellow-pupil  is  helped  in  a 
difficulty,  spontaneous  confession  of  wrong-doing  is 
made,  admiration  at  another's  success  is  expressed, 
and  the  like.  The  good  thing  impulsively  done  is  to 
be  noted  by  the  teacher  and  commended.  An  associa- 
tion of  pleasure  with  the  good  deed  is  to  be  formed,  and 
this  association  trusted  to  repeat  the  deed. 

All  conscious  action  passes  through  the  impulsive  The 

' ,   .         _,  .    Educational 

stage,  some  action  never  gets  beyond  it.  The  general  Principle, 
principle  of  training  here  is  to  foster  the  good  impulses 
through  desirable  and  pleasurable  consequences,  and 
to  checkmate  the  bad  impulses  through  undesirable 
and  painful  consequences,  and  be  consistent  through- 
out in  so  doing.  In  this  early  stage  of  impulsive  action 
our  dependence  is  almost  solely  on  the  pleasurable  or 
painful  fringes  which  experience  associates  with  ideas 
of  action.  The  idea  of  a  wrong  deed  whose  fringe 


272     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

suggests  pain  will  hardly  lead  to  action ;  of  a  right  deed 
whose  fringe  suggests  pleasure  will  probably  lead  to 
action.  The  ideal  is  to  eliminate  the  impulsive  wrong 
deeds,  and  fix  the  impulsive  rights  deeds. 

Description  The  impulsiveness  which  all  children  possess  to  some 
cipitate  Will,  degree  some  children  possess  to  an  abnormal  degree. 
The  impulsive  child  beyond  the  average,  or  beyond  the 
period  of  mere  impulsiveness,  requires  special  descrip- 
tion and  treatment.  He  is  quickly  responsive  to  all 
external  influences,  physical  or  personal,  acting  un- 
hesitatingly, and  is  easily  led  astray.  The  painful 
fringes  experience  has  gathered  about  certain  ideas 
are  not  effective  in  preventing  action.  Physiologically 
expressed,  there  is  defective  inhibition  in  the  nervous 
system.  He  is  sometimes  described  as  being  "quick 
on  trigger,"  as  "jumping  at  conclusions."  His  acts 
are  wanton,  without  provocation.  His  nervous  system 
sets  quickly  in  the  direction  of  motor  discharge.  The 
channels  from  cerebrum  to  muscles  are  fixed  and  deep. 
He  is  motor  in  type  partly  by  inheritance,  and  partly 
perhaps  also  by  training. 

As  he  passes  into  the  upper  grammar  grades  and  the 
high  school,  he  lords  it  over  his  fellows,  is  showy  in  his 
action,  is  immodest  beyond  his  years,  resourceful  in 
emergencies,  and  doesn't  know  the  virtue  of  patience. 
He  is  motor  because  his  mind  is  filled  with  what  Bald- 
win calls  "the  twitchings,  tensions,  contractions,  and 
expansions  of  the  activities  of  the  muscular  system." 
He  thinks  of  movements  rather  than  sights  and  sounds. 
His  three  characteristic  mental  traits  are  fluid 


Training  the  Impulses  273 

attention,  distinctions  difficult  to  make  and  to  remem- 
ber, and  hasty  generalizations. 

If  these  tendencies  are  not  corrected  in  the  secondary 
school,  and  the  youth  comes  to  college,  it  is  said  of  him 
that  he  has  not  learned  how  to  study,  how  to  apply  him- 
self, how  to  assimilate.  He  may  be  ready  and  willing 
and  receptive,  but  is  incapable  of  retaining,  because  his 
channels  of  reaction  are  worn  smooth.  He  can  mouth 
principles  like  an  old  man,  but  is  dumfounded  before 
facts.  He  is  familiar  with  authority,  but  knows  little 
of  evidence ;  he  can  memorize  and  imitate,  but  cannot 
think  and  originate. 

What  shall  be  the  training  of  the  preternaturally  ^  . 
impulsive  child?  To  begin  with,  he  does  not  need  the 
kindergarten  as  at  present  conducted.  Its  emphasis 
on  expression  accentuates,  rather  than  checks,  his 
already  defective  inhibition.  The  present  kinder- 
garten is  best  for  the  sensory,  quiet,  unexpressive  child. 

Neither  can  the  precipitate  child  be  controlled  directly 
by  command,  threats,  or  the  rod.  Command  a  restless 
child  to  sit  still,  and  within,  if  not  without,  you  make 
him  tenfold  more  a  child  of  restlessness  than  before; 
you  fix  his  attention  on  the  very  thing  he  is  to  avoid. 
The  negative  and  the  positive  of  a  picture  still  represent 
the  same  picture  to  the  mind.  So  a  negative  command 
to  the  impulsive  child  holds  before  him  the  very  picture 
he  is  commanded  not  to  look  upon.  Ideas  do  have 
motor  impulses. 

The  secret  is  rather  to  get  the  idea  of  a  complicated 
act  in  his  mind.  This  alone  will  delay  his  reactive 
machinery.  If  he  marks  his  desk,  get  him  to  draw  a 


274     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

map,  not  as  a  punishment,  but  to  direct  his  penchant 
into  more  difficult  tasks,  requiring  hesitation  and  pa- 
tience. If  he  cuts  his  initials  on  his  seat,  engage  him 
in  wood  carving.  Use  his  latent  interests,  but  in  novel 
and  difficult  situations  requiring  care  and  forethought. 
He  should  be  kept  with  scholars  slightly  more  advanced 
than  himself.  No  assistance  should  be  rendered  him 
until  the  good  fruits  of  discouragement  are  ripe.  Assign 
him  usually  the  secondary  places  in  sports  and  games. 
In  a  case  of  real  leadership,  however,  say  an  exploring 
party,  give  the  place  to  him,  where  either  responsibility 
may  check,  or  failure  teach.  Analyze  the  mistakes 
made,  showing  their  causes,  and  the  advantages  of 
forethought.  Recognize  also  fully  the  motor  pupil's 
merit, — quickness  and  promptness. 

The  studies  of  such  a  pupil  that  should  be  stressed 
are  those  furnishing  no  immediate  opportunity  for 
action,  but  requiring  thought,  like  mathematics  and 
grammar;  those  that  cultivate  careful  observation  and 
generalization,  the  making  of  accurate  discriminations, 
and  that  demand  attention,  like  experimental  physics 
and  chemistry.  Descriptive  botany,  history,  and  ge- 
ography should  be  held  in  abeyance  to  observational 
studies,  unless  indeed  these  be  studied  observationally. 
Arithmetic  and  geometry  are  better  than  algebra,  em- 
pirical psychology  or  political  economy  than  deductive 
logic.  Drawing  from  life  or  models  is  good  employment 
for  the  hands,  also  the  use  of  neighboring  machine 
shops.  In  general,  this  pupil  needs  the  inductive 
studies,  the  pursuit  of  the  general  from  the  particular. 
How  prevalent  the  tendency  among  pupils  throughout 


Training  the  Impulses  275 

school  and  college  careers  to  approach  facts  from  the 
point  of  view  of  their  likeness,  merging  them  all  to- 
gether in  a  general  description !  Their  training,  above 
all,  should  be  observation  and  report  on  single  facts. 
These  are  the  brakes  on  the  wheels  of  their  memory 
processes. 

The  precipitate  will  unassisted  may  pass  into  the 
pathological  condition  of  uncontrollable  impulses,  the 
so-called  monomanias,  and  insistent  ideas. 

This,  then,  is  the  precipitate  type  of  will  and  how  we  Description 

J  r  of  the  Ob- 

may  deal  with  it.     But  some  one  will  say,  my  problem  structedwui 

is  not  with  the  active,  but  with  the  passive,  child,  not 
with  the  pupil  having  too  much  will,  but  too  little,  — 
the  hesitant,  backward,  shrinking,  timid  child.  His 
will  seems  to  be  obstructed,  his  inhibition  is  excessive, 
his  ideas  are  deficient  in  impulsive  character. 

This  type  is  indeed  the  other  characteristic  variation 
from  the  normal.  We  have  the  normal  impulsive  will, 
the  abnormal  precipitate  will,  and  the  abnormal  ob- 
structed will.  If  we  call  the  child  with  the  precipitate 
will  the  motor  type,  we  may  call  the  child  with  the 
obstructed  will  the  sensory  type. 

How  shall  we  describe  the  sensory  type  of  child? 
He  is  passive,  inert,  contemplative,  learning  new 
movements  slowly,  and  not  quick  at  taking  a  hint. 
Often  he  gets  the  unearned  reputation  from  uncom- 
prehending teachers  of  being  dull.  He  grieves  in 
quiet,  is  undemonstrative,  timid,  and  learns  from  a 
few  experiences. 

The  sensory  type  is  more  difficult  to  assist  than  the 


276     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

motor.  This  child  is  not  the  open  book  his  brother  is. 
He  puzzles  us,  because  he  does  not  reveal  himself  in 
speech  or  action.  What  he  has  learned  or  missed  is 
difficult  to  determine.  His  will  may  be  obstructed 
because  of  too  many  ideas  that  mutually  inhibit  each 
other,  —  the  Hamlet  type ;  or  deficient  impulsiveness  in 
the  single  idea  that  he  has,  —  abulia.  How  many  of 
us  have  not  felt  "the  agony  of  starting,"  a  temporary 
impotency  before  a  paper  to  be  written  or  a  letter  to 
be  answered? 

its  Training.  The  great  principle  in  dealing  with  the  obstructed 
will  is  in  some  way  to  secure  expression,  to  open  the 
flood-gates  of  nervous  energy,  to  connect  mental  states 
with  physical  reactions,  to  make  action  easy.  The 
kindergarten  is  here  indispensable.  If  it  had  been 
framed  for  the  obstructed  will,  it  could  not  have 
been  better.  It  teaches  the  child  ease  of  move- 
ment, self-activity,  self-confidence,  and  familiarity  with 
others. 

The  teacher  must  make  no  mistake  with  the  sensory 
type,  for  mistakes  here  do  not  reveal  themselves,  but 
only  increase  the  secretiveness  you  would  remove.  First 
wait  for  some  positive  indication  of  what  the  real  situa- 
tion is,  —  understand  your  child.  Then  cultivate  ap- 
propriately self-expression,  by  letting  him  recite  a  great 
deal,  repeat  memorized  verses ;  encouraging  him  to  ask 
questions;  giving  him  the  active  parts  in  games,  the 
speaking  parts  in  plays ;  try  him  as  leader  of  a  tramping 
party ;  provide  in  season  an  open-air  life ;  especially  be 
kind  in  correcting  his  mistakes.  If  left  to  himself,  the 
sensory  child  with  obstructed  will  is  likely  to  develop 


Training  the  Impulses  277 

into  idiosyncrasy  and  eccentricity;  if  brought  out  of 
himself,  the  variation  may  change  to  genius. 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  motor  type,  whose  ex- 
treme is  precipitate  action,  predominates  with  girls, 
while  the  sensory  type,  whose  extreme  is  obstructed 
action,  characterizes  boys;  hence  the  common  ob- 
servation that  girls  seem  brighter  than  boys.  It  means 
they  are  more  alert,  responsive,  ready,  quick ;  not  that 
they  have  greater  mental  power,  concentration,  or  con- 
structiveness.  In  assigned  tasks  of  memory  they  show 
better ;  in  matters  requiring  patient  and  profound  think- 
ing, the  boys  are  better. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Nature  of  Impulse. 

2.  Insistent  Ideas. 

3.  Monomanias. 

4.  Abulia. 

.       REFERENCES  ON  IMPULSES 

Angell,  Psychology,  ch.  XVII. 

Baldwin,  Story  of  the  Mind,  ch.  VIII. 

James,  Briefer  Psychology,  pp.  435-442. 

Search,  An  Ideal  School,  ch.  VIII. 

Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  pp.  266-268. 

Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  pp.  85-87. 

Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  ch.  XII. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  PLACE  OF  IMITATION  IN  EDUCATION 

S~ "  ~*\ 

IMITATION  is  an  instinct}  suggestion  is  an  impulse. 
The  discussion  of  these  two,  therefore,  in  this  and  the 
following  chapter,  but  carries  forward  in  particular  and 
notable  ways  the  two  preceding  stages.  Imitation  and 
suggestion  shade  imperceptibly  into  each  other,  radical 
distinctions  between  them  being  impossible  to  main- 
tain. Suggestion  has  the  larger  connotation,  imitation 
being  due  to  a  particular  kind  of  suggestive  influence, 
viz.  "suggestibility  to  models  and  copies  of  all  sorts."  * 
We  take  the  term  of  smaller  scope  first. 

The  Nature  By  imitation  we  mean  the  tendency  to  repeat  the 
thought  or  action  of  another.  Its  influence  is  bound 
up  with  the  social  order  and  permeates  all  our  conduct. 
MacCunn  describes  imitation  as  "one  of  the  earliest, 
deepest,  and  most  tenacious  of  human  instincts." a 
And  concerning  its  almost  universal  influence  Professor 
Thorndike  writes:  "Among  the  most  numerous  and 
the  most  important  causes  of  the  ideas  producing  action 
in  a  human  being  are  the  acts  of  other  human  beings. 
Manners,  accent,  the  usages  of  language,  style  in  dress 
and  appearance,  —  in  a  word,  the  minor  phases  of 

1  Baldwin,    "Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology,"    article, 
"  Suggestion." 

2  MacCunn,  "The  Making  of  Character,"  p.  128. 

278 


The  Place  of  Imitation  in  Education    279 

human  behavior,  —  are  guided  almost  exclusively  by 
them.  They  also  control  the  morals,  business  habits, 
and  political  action  of  many  men  on  many  occasions. 
As  the  physical  environment  decides  in  large  measure 
what  things  a  man  shall  see  and  hear,  so  the  social 
environment  decides  in  large  measure  what  he  shall 
do  and  feel."  l 

Coming  closer  to  the  subject  of  imitation,  we  may  Large  and 
distinguish  a  large  and  a  limited  sense  of  the  term,  f  In  Minings. 
a  large  sense  imitation  ^s  synonymous  with  learning, 
and  accounts  for  all  the  content  of  civilization  except 
that  small  but  weighty  fraction  added  by  invention) 
In  the  limited  sense  of  the  term,  it  means  the  influence 
of  personal  example,  and  in  this  sense  only  is  its  dis- 
cussion of  practical  educational  moment,  though  such 
discussion  with  difficulty  avoids  platitudes. 

What  models  do  children  of  younger  or  older  growth  Thc  Models 

J    .  Children 

imitate?  We  cannot  answer  that  they  imitate  the  imitate, 
good  and  not  the  bad.  Rather  their  unreflective 
deeds  are  almost  indifferent  to  this  distinction.  But 
the  interesting  deeds,  the  fascinating,  the  compelling; 
even  the  inherently  uninteresting  deeds  of  interesting 
people;  the  deeds  of  a  supposed  superior;  and  the 
deeds  of  the  heroes  of  all  times,  —  all  these  catch  their 
attention,  appeal  to  native  interests,  solicit  action.  The 
children  imitate  the  captivating  bad  fellow,  the  play- 
ground leader,  their  parents,  the  teachers  they  like, 
and  the  characters  in  their  favorite  stories.  They  do 
not  usually  imitate  familiar,  commonplace,  unmterest- 

1  Thorndike,  "Elements  of  Psychology,"  p.  288. 


280     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Influ- 
ence of 
Example. 

Stimulus. 


standard. 


ing  deeds,  the  deeds  of  uninteresting  people,  the  deeds 
of  a  supposed  inferior,  and  the  described  virtues.  All 
these  latter  fail  to  catch  the  attention,  to  reach  the 
interest,  or  to  enlist  the  imagination  of  children.  De- 
scribe a  virtue,  like  courage,  and  children  get 
words  ;  narrate  a  virtue,  as  in  the  story  of  David,  and 
children  get  images  and  ideas.  The  striking  person- 
alities about  the  child,  and  the  heroes  of  story, 
biography,  and  history,  —  these  make  the  virtues 
imitable  to  children,  these  are  the  examples  that 
influence. 

In  what  precisely  consists  the  justly  celebrated  in- 
fluence of  example!  The  deed  of  another  that  has  the 
quality  of  suggestiveness  for  us  does  four  things,  viz. 
^j)  it  stimulates  us  to  do  likewise^  There  is  an  impulse 
to  perform  an  action  which  we  see  another  perform. 
Actions  speak  louder  than  words  because  they  are 
concrete,  vivid,  and  sharp-cut,  thus  giving  attention 
something  upon  which  to  fasten.  Example  is  superior 
to  precept,  practising  is  better  than  preaching,  because 
a  deed  is  more  suggestive  than  a  word,  —  it  inhibits 
any  idea  of  the  act's  impossibility,  often  even  of  its 
undesirability. 

(2)  {  Example  provides  us  with  a  standard  by  which 
we  pass  judgments  on  conduct.  Smoking  must  be  all 
right  for  me,  says  the  young  fellow,  for  all  the  big 
boys  smoke,  and  even  such  and  such  a  man  also.  The 
superiority  of  an  example  to  a  principle  as  a  standard 
of  moral  judgment  consists  in  its  clearness,  its  cer- 
tainty, its  unambiguity,  whereas  a  principle  always  has 


The  Place  of  Imitation  in  Education     281 

to  be  applied,  thereby  opening  the  door  to  casuis- 
try. Of  course  a  remote  example  faces  the  same 
difficulty. 

(3)^JExamples  raise  or  lower  our  ideals  of  living,  influence  on 
they  fill  our  minds  with  a  certain  pattern  of  lifej) 
Young  minds  are  inevitably  contaminated  by  a 
permanent  evil  social  environment,  as  they  are 
inevitably  purified  by  constantly  breathing  a  moral 
atmosphere. 

(4)  Examples  reveal  to  us  our  own  nature.  Hu-  Revelation, 
manity  is  capable  of  that;  I  am  a  man.  We  shudder 
at  crime,  for  it  is  not  far  from  us;  we  thrill  at  self- 
sacrifice,  for  it  too  is  within  our  reach.  Not  a  school, 
perhaps,  in  which  during  the  year  some  character  does 
not  flash  forth  to  shame  the  face  of  evil  and  to  make 
shine  the  face  of  goodness. 

Thinking  of  these  influences  of  example  in  our  social  Application 

. ,  ....      for  Teachers. 

order,  we  may  say,  if  examples  teach  us  nothing  through 
imitation,  we  are  geniuses  or  defectives.  For  us  as 
practical  teachers  these  considerations  demand  that  we 
be  as  genuinely  interesting  and  fascinating  personalities 
to  pupils  as  we  can  be ;  that  our  deeds  be  worthy  their 
imitation;  that  our  sense  of  responsible  living  be 
sharpened,  through  recognizing  our  conduct  as  a  con- 
tagion; and  this  last  particularly,  that  through  story, 
biography, '  fiction,  and  history,  we  store  young  minds 
with  vivid  images  of  heroic  characters.  To  quote 
MacCunn  again,  "The  best  index  expurgatorius  is  not 
to  be  found  in  a  catalogue  of  books  not  to  be  read. 
Contrariwise,  it  is  the  carefully  fostered  love  of  good 
fiction  that  will  in  the  long  run  do  tenfold  more  to  oust 


282     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

the  tales  of  scandal,  frivolity,  and  crime  than  a  thousand 
repressive  'Thou-shalt-nots.'  " 1 

The Limita-       ,But  personal  examples  alone  are  not  adequate  to  the 

Example.  fashioning  of  will ;  they  have  their  limitations  as  springs 
of  action  and  guides  of  conduct.  To  emphasize  these 
limitations  of  example  in  the  making  of  character  is 
perhaps  the  most  pertinent  point  to-day  hi  the  dis- 
cussion of  imitation.  We  must  be  brought  up  almost 
entirely  on  example,  but  we  can  never  become  persons 
by  proxy. 

Aping.  rFour  limitations  to  the  influence  of  example  appear) 

(i)jrhe  influence  of  example  is  most  valuable,  not  when 
it  is  literally  and  externally  imitated,  but  when  its  spirit 
is  caught  and  reproduced  in  the  new  setting)  This 
adds  to  character  independence,  originality,  genuine- 
ness, sincerity,  personality.  Otherwise,  imitating  is 
aping. 

Particularity.  (2)  \Any  example  is  particular  in  place  and  time ; 
it  is  individual  and  concrete./  The  example  therefore  is 
not  universal;  it  is  not  once  for  all,  as  such.  The 
great  demand  that  an  example  makes  upon  us  is  not 
that  it  be  faithfully  copied,  but  that  it  be  understood, 
assimilated,  appropriated. 

Demands  (3)    This  leads  us  to  note  tha/the  best  utilization 

Imagination         .  .  .  j    . 

of  example  presupposes  a  developed  imagination,  per- 
mitting us  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  the  exempla^ 
Without  this,  we  may  do  what  he  did,  we  cannot  do  as 
he  did. 
and  And  (4),  in  the  words  of  Professor  Stout,  I"  Imitation 

Capacity. 

1  MacCunn,  op.  cit.,  p.  127. 


The  Place  of  Imitation  in  Education    283 

may  develop  and  improve  a  power  which  already  exists, 
but  it  cannot  create  it."  y  We  can  become  by  imitation 
only  what  we  already  are  by  capacity.  The  example 
must  presuppose  the  power  in  us  to  respond  to  it.  It 
is  no  substitute  for  individuality.  We  may  look  to 
example  for  many  beneficent  influences,  but  it  can- 
not save  us  from  the  duty  and  the  danger  of  being 
ourselves. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Unconscious  and  Conscious  Imitation. 

2.  Influence  of  Imitation  on  Mental  Development. 

3.  Imitation  and  Originality. 

4.  Imitation  in  Teaching  English  Composition  and  Art 

5.  Tarde's  Laws  of  Imitation. 

REFERENCES  ON  IMITATION 

Baldwin,  Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations,  ch.  III. 
Calkins,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  pp.  339-347. 
Griggs,  Moral  Education,  ch.  XVIII. 
Judd,  Genetic  Psychology  for  Teachers,  pp.  125-127. 
MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  ch.  X. 
Morgan,  Habit  and  Instinct,  ch.  VIII. 
Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  274-285. 
Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  Book  III,  ch.  II. 
Stratton,  Experimental  Psychology  and  Culture,  ch.  XL 
Sully,  Teacher's  Handbook  of  Psychology,  pp.  517-520. 
Thorndike,  Human  Nature  Club,  ch.  XIV. 

1  Stout,  "Manual  of  Psychology,"  p.  274. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

EDUCATING   BY  SUGGESTION 

THE  one  general  principle  for  securing  a  conscious 
act  is,  arouse  the  mental  state  that  means  that  act. 
Sometimes  it  is  desirable  to  secure  the  act  through 
arousing  the  mental  state  that  means  it  without  arous- 
ing any  inhibiting  mental  state  that  would  delay,  or 
even  prevent,  the  act  in  question.  This  method  of 
securing  action  is  by  suggestion.  The  principle  works 
both  when  we  intend  and  when  we  do  not  intend 
specific  actions.  Teachers  give  suggestions  uncon- 
sciously as  well  as  consciously. 

The  Nature  Suggestion  is  the  tendency  of  consciousness  to  believe 
tion.  ,  in  and  act  on  any  given  idea.  Consciousness  will  both 
believe  in  and  act  on  any  given  idea  that  is  uninhibited 
by  another  idea,  as  is  illustrated  in  both  waking  and 
hypnotic  suggestion.  By  suggestion,  customs,  fashions, 
and  fads  pass  through  a  school  like  wind-made  waves 
over  a  grainfield.  By  suggestion  the  crowd  follows  the 
leader.  By  suggestion  the  physician  renews  the  faith 
of  his  patient  in  his  recovery,  and  the  individual, 
timid  and  nervous  before  some  trial,  establishes  his 
self-confidence  through  self-suggestions  of  a  successful 
issue.  By  suggestion  we  arouse  an  idea  in  our  pupil's 
mind,  leading  to  the  desired  act,  without  arousing  con 
flicting  ideas. 

284 


Educating  by  Suggestion  285 

Individuals  differ  widely  in  suggestibility,  some  be- 

,.  i  ,  ,  .        .          Suggestion 

hevmg  and  acting  on  most  they  hear,  others  rejecting  jn  Educat- 
any  foreign  suggestion  whatsoever.     But  of  practically  mg> 
all  children  it  is  true  that  they  are  characteristically 
responsive  to  suggestions.     Indeed,  when  we  speak  of 
the  impressionable  age,  this  means  the  suggestible  age. 

In  a  large  sense  of  the  word,  suggestion  is  the  com- 
prehensive means  of  educating.  In  the  words  of  Dr. 
Otto  Stoll,  "To  educate  a  human  being  aright  means, 
on  the  one  hand,  to  let  the  suggestions  influence  him  that 
are  suited  to  his  individuality  in  order  to  make  him  a 
spiritually  sound,  ethically  good,  happy  being ;  and  on 
the  other  hand  to  remove  from  him,  or  paralyze  by  con- 
trary suggestions,  all  those  suggestions  that  threaten  his 
spiritual  health,  destroy  his  character,  and  kill  his 
vitality,  which  he  needs  even  more  to-day  when  the 
struggle  fop  existence  is  carried  on  with  greater  bitter- 
ness than  in  the  times  of  easier  modes  of  living."  l 

If  several  ideas  leading  to  different  acts  are  in  con- 
sciousness, we  have,  not  suggestion,  but  deliberation, 
with  several  motives  present,  and  choice.  Now  the 
field  in  education  for  the  conscious  use  of  suggestion 
seems  to  be  twofold,  viz.  (i)  where  the  pupil  could  not 
rightly  estimate  the  motives  in  deliberation,  and  (2) 
where  it  is  important  that  he  should  do  the  right  thing, 
but  not  important  that  he  should  be  able  to  give  a 
reason  for  so  doing.  It  is  evident  that  young  children 
belong  to  both  these  types;  they  can  neither  weigh 
motives,  nor  is  it  important  as  yet  that  they  should 

1  "Suggestion  und  Hypnotismus,"  second  edition,  Leipzig,  1904, 
pp.  708-709. 


286     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Art  of 
Suggesting. 

Indirect. 


Positive. 


learn  to  do  so.  The  limit  to  the  use  of  the  principle 
of  suggestion  is  where  the  act  should  be  reflected  upon, 
the  cost  should  be  counted,  before  the  deed  is  done. 
As  Thorndike  observes,  "Suggestion  as  a  method  of 
control  is  risky  in  cases  where  training  in  judgment  and 
choice  is  one  chief  benefit  of  the  act."  l 

The  art  of  giving  suggestions  to  children  consists  hi 
observing  two  things,  that  they  should  be  indirect  and 
positive.  The  most  effective  suggestions  are  indirect. 
The  really  dangerous  vice  is  that  which  by  indirection 
and  suggestiveness  lets  loose  the  imagination,  while  the 
open  flaunting  vice  that  appeals  to  the  sensations  is  re- 
pulsive. Likewise  the  good  that  is  but  hinted  or  sug- 
gested is  more  attractive  than  that  which  is  required. 
Direct  commands  are  less  obeyed,  or,  at  least,  less 
spontaneously  obeyed;  they  subject  the  child's  will. 
An  indirect  suggestion  liberates  the  child's  will,  and 
the  quality  of  exuberance  characterizes  his  responsive 
action. 

The  second  thing  to  observe  is  that  the  most  effective 
suggestions  are  positive ;  effective,  that  is,  in  getting  the 
desired  reaction  in  a  desirable  way.  The  positive  sug- 
gestion secures  the  right  act  in  the  right  way.  A 
negative  suggestion,  that  is,  the  suggestion  not  to  do  a 
certain  thing,  fills  the  child's  mind  with  the  idea  of  the 
very  act  he  is  told  not  to  do,  and  so  by  suggestion  tends 
to  secure  the  undesired  act.  A  foolish  old  story  with 
several  characteristic  variations  relates  how  a  physician 
on  a  call  warned  his  patient  not  to  put  beans  up  his 

1  "Elements  of  Psychology,"  New  York,  1905,  p.  287. 


Educating  by  Suggestion  287 

nose,  only  to  find  on  his  next  visit  that  the  patient  had 
not  heeded  his  negative  suggestion.  A  positive  sug- 
gestion excludes  the  possibility  even  of  thinking  of  the 
forbidden  thing.  Suggestions  of  what  to  do,  rather 
than  what  not  to  do,  work  best  with  young  minds. 

From   the  attractiveness  of  the  forbidden  fruit  in  Danggrof 

Negative 

Eden  down  to  the  events  of  any  modern  nursery,  human  suggestions. 
nature  reveals  a  curious  bent  toward  what  it  is  not  per- 
mitted to  have.  Its  assertiveness  seems  to  appear  just 
at  the  point  of  repression.  Forbid  one  young  person 
the  company  of  another,  and  straightway  that  other 
becomes  an  essential  to  life's  happiness.  Now,  this 
weakness  in  human  nature  is  often  preyed  upon  by 
teachers  and  parents  when  they  get  children  to  do  what 
they  want  them  to  do  by  forbidding  them  those  very 
things.  The  child  that  won't  drink  its  milk  is  told  he 
cannot  have  any  more,  and  at  once  he  calls  for  it ;  the 
child  that  doesn't  want  to  go  to  school  to-day  is  told  he 
must  stay  at  home,  and  at  once  he  insists  on  going ;  and 
so  on.  Now  while  this  insincere  use  of  a  negative  sug- 
gestion is  very  effective  in  getting  the  deserved  thing 
done,  it  is  not  done  in  the  desirable  way.  Under  such 
treatment  a  child  becomes  an  habitual  cross-patch, 
to  whom  everything  permitted  is  distasteful,  and  every- 
thing forbidden  is  delightful.  Negative  suggestions  to 
secure  what  is  wanted  from  children  in  the  way  of  con- 
duct should  never  be  used  at  all ;  negative  suggestions 
to  prevent  what  is  not  wanted  should  be  followed 
always  with  a  positive  suggestion  to  secure  what  is 
wanted.  Forbid  the  evil  as  little  as  possible;  fill 
consciousness  with  the  good  as  much  as  possible. 


288     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 
stall's  Enu-         jn  the  work  above  cited,  Dr.  Stoll  enumerates  three 

meration  of  ,     ,  .  ..  . 

Detrimental    kinds  of  detrimental  suggestions  children  undergo  m 

Suggestions.  hoine  an(j  school  alike,  suggestions  given  often  con- 
sciously on  the  part  of  parents  and  teachers,  but  with- 
out full  consciousness  of  their  disastrous  consequences. 
In  noting  these  suggestions  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
they  are  probably  more  characteristic  of  the  German 
schools  which  Dr.  Stoll  has  primarily  in  mind  than  of 
'our  American  schools,  though  we  also  feel  their  blight- 
ing presence. 

Painful.  These  are:  (i)  suggestions  of  a  painful  nature, 

physical  and  mental,  such  as  the  constant  dread  of 
physical  punishment,  rough  mistreatment,  mortify- 
ing exposure  before  school  companions,  shutting  up 
children  in  dark  rooms  as  a  punishment,  and  suggestions 
of  frightful  supernatural  beings.  All  these  pervert  the 
child's  mental  outlook  on  the  world  and  take  the  soul 
of  joy  out  of  its  life. 

Contrary.  Stoll  mentions  (2)  contrary  suggestions,  by  which 

he  means  the  use  of  a  form  or  tone  of  speech  not  suited 
to  the  individual  child's  disposition,  as  habitual  intimi- 
dation, or  the  inducing  of  paralyzing  fear.  Children  so 
treated  "are  not  able  to  obey  a  sharp  and  harshly 
uttered  command  to  put  on  a*  friendly  countenance,  or 
to  shake  hands  with  a  stranger,  or  to  make  a  circum- 
stantial confession,  or  even  to  beg  the  required  pardon 
in  penitent  form."  Then  they  get  the  reputation  of 
being  obdurate,  and  no  scolding,  nor  low  marks,  nor 
bodily  castigation,  seem  sufficient  to  break  this 
"maleficium  taciturnitas"  The  consequence  of  such 
ill-treatment  is  that  in  time  these  children  become  really 


Educating  by  Suggestion  289 

insolent,  taking  pride  in  suffering  the  severest  penalty, 
rather  than  obeying  such  stern  exactions. 

"A  single  word  of  love  or  warm-hearted  sympathy  in 
the  right  way  would  have  broken  the  spell,  without  which 
they  are  lost,  for  no  property  of  young  souls  is  more 
sensitive  than  the  feeling  of  justice,  and  no  need  more 
intensive  than  that  of  love.  When  both  are  lacking, 
the  soul  becomes  dry  and  hard.  If  they  do  not  lose 
their  power  of  psychical  resistance,  such  children  in 
later  life  join  the  crowded  ranks  of  the  dissatisfied,  with 
whom  mutiny  against  the  established  order  has  become 
instinctive.  Natures  of  a  weaker  organization,  how- 
ever, become  timid,  solitary,  melancholy,  upon  the 
bloom  of  whose  young  life  the  frost  has  fallen,  who  can 
never  have  genuine  joy  in  anything  again,  for  nothing 
can  give  them  back  their  spirit." 

And  (3)  Dr.  Stoll  mentions  suggestions  of  over-  Exciting, 
excitement.  Under  this  prejudicial  influence  fall  espe- 
cially lively,  energetic,  industrious,  and  conscientious 
children,  and  such  as  are  tormented  by  a  vain  and 
overdriven  ambition.  Incitements  to  such  overexer- 
tion  are  excessive  praise  before  strangers,  constant 
reference  to  the  high  grades  of  other  children,  and  the 
pressure  of  examinations.  The  nervous  tension  of  the 
school  is  too  high,  in  consequence  of  which  the  health 
of  both  body  and  mind  suffers. 

So  far  the  injurious  suggestions  as  described  by  Dr. 
Stoll.  It  will  encourage  us  as  teachers  in  the  delicate 
art  of  shaping  conduct  aright  through  suggestion  to 
remember  that  the  individual  life-history  of  many  a 
man,  perhaps  of  some  of  us,  is  witness  to  the  influence 
u 


290     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

of  some  apparently  incidental  suggestion  dropped  into 
the  receptive  youthful  mind  by  a  loving,  serious,  dis- 
cerning teacher. 

Hypnotism         in  this  connection  I  will  briefly  refer  to  the  work  of 
tion.  Dr.  Quackenbos1  of  New  York,  who  has  been  successful 

in  treating,  among  others,  deficient  pupils  by  post- 
hypnotic  suggestions.  Those  in  whom  habit  has 
destroyed  will-power  seem  to  need  the  stimulus  of 
another  will  for  their  self-recovery  through  right  action. 
The  cases  that  have  shown  themselves  amenable  to 
such  treatment  include  alcoholism,  social  vice,  cigarettes, 
drug  habits,  kleptomania,  bad  temper,  cruelty,  habitual 
falsehood,  and  loss  of  interest  in  study  and  books. 
The  use  of  both  waking  and  hypnotic  suggestion  by 
modern  reputable  physicians  in  dealing  with  sick 
patients  dignifies  this  method  as  of  possible  service  to 
the  teacher  in  dealing  with  sick  minds.  It  is  a  resource, 
however,  to  be  used  with  greatest  caution.  A  boy  kept 
from  weakness  or  crime  through  post-hypnotic  sug- 
gestion may  be  formally  correct  in  conduct,  but  the 
incentive  is  not  a  moral  one;  it  is  a  psychic  incentive 
of  a  non-moral  quality.  It  is  evident  that  such  treat- 
ment is  lasting  only  in  case  a  moral  motive  is  implanted 
to  prevent  relapses.  The  value  of  such  treatment 
consists  in  its  building  up  the  nervous  system  enough 
to  permit  self-control  in  those  cases  where  self-control 
is  really  desired.  Only  a  deficient  person  is  a  fit  sub- 
ject for  hypnotic  treatment  by  suggestion.  Neither 
ministers  before  their  audiences  in  a  revival  nor  teachers 

1  "Hypnotism  in  Mental  and  Moral  Culture." 


Educating  by  Suggestion  291 

before  their  pupils  can  afford  to  use  the  art  of  suggestion 
for  results.  In  the  valid  use  of  suggestion  with  normal 
persons  in  church  and  school  the  line  is  to  be  drawn 
exactly  at  that  point  where  the  individuality  of  the 
person  is  no  longer  his  own,  but  has  become  another's. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Characteristics  of  a  Crowd. 

2.  Permissible  Uses  of  Hypnotism  in  Education. 

3.  The  Psychology  of  Suggestion  and  Hypnotism. 

4.  An  Analysis  of  a  "Magnetic  Personality." 

REFERENCES  ON  EDUCATING  BY  SUGGESTION 

Cooley,  Human  Nature  and  the  Social  Order,  ch.  II. 

Dill,  Psychology  of  Advertising,  IV. 

James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  ch.  XXVII. 

Mason,  Hypnotism  and  Suggestion,  ch.  IV. 

Oppenheim,  Mental  Growth  and  Control,  ch.  VIII. 

Stoll,  Suggestion  und  Hypnotismus,  pp.  708-715. 

Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  pp.  269-275. 

Stratton,  Experimental  Psychology  and  Culture,  ch.  XI. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

FORMING  HABITS 

WE  are  now  on  most  familiar  ground.  Everybody 
knows  about  habits  practically,  and  almost  everybody 
nowadays  knows  also  something  about  the  modern 
physiological  explanations  of  habits.  President  Faunce 
says  Professor  James's  chapter  on  habit  has  been 
preached  from  a  thousand  pulpits.  There  is  no 
scientific  subject  that  will  so  preach  itself  as  habit,  and 
it  needs  to  do  so  to  every  new  generation  afresh.  The 
purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  try  to  say  again  those 
things  concerning'  habit  which  we  doubtless  already 
know,  but  of  which,  like  the  ten  words  of  Moses,  we 
cannot  neglect  to  remind  ourselves. 
TheUniver-  Where  can  habit  be  found?  Thanks  to  modern 

sality  of 

Habit.  scientific  thought  about  the  laws  of  nature,  the  answer 

is  that  habit  can  be  found  everywhere.    The  so-called 

The  Laws  of  iaws  of  nature  are  really  her  habits  of  behavior  that 

Nature. 

have  grown  with  her  growth.  What  were  the  laws  of 
falling  bodies  before  there  were  any  bodies  yet  con- 
densed from  the  primitive  nebulous  mass  ?  What  were 
the  laws  of  freezing  mixtures  when  the  universe  of 
matter  was  molten  liquid?  Such  questions  suggest 
that  the  very  laws  of  nature  have  themselves  developed 
as  nature  has  developed,  and  represent  in  the  large 
man's  formulation  of  nature's  habits  of  action. 

292 


Forming  Habits  293 

Coming  closer  to  man,  and  thinking  of  the  actions  The  instincts 

.   ,  ....  .  ,       ,  of  Animals. 

of  lower  animals,  it  is  usual  to  say  that  with  them 
instincts  rule.  But  the  biological  sciences  of  to-day 
are  teaching  us  to  think  of  instincts  as  really  inherited 
ancestral  habits.  They  wish  us  to  remember,  however, 
that  the  ancestral  habits  were  not  acquired  in  one 
generation,  but  probably  represent  the  selection  of 
fortunate  variations  through  manifold  generations.  As 
they  say,  instinct  is  an  inherited  congenital,  not  ac- 
quired, habit. 

In  the  life  of  man  the  presence  of  habit  is  most  in  Man. 
conspicuous  of  all.    According  to  an  old  meaning  of 
the  term,  even  his  clothes  are  his  habits,  and  by  a 
figure  of  speech  it  still  might  be  said  that  his  habits 
are  the  garments  of  his  soul.     And  then,  too,  he  has  his  Habits  of 

Mind. 

habits  of  mind,  though  he  does  not  always  recognize 
them.  They  are  of  two  kinds,  individual  and  pro- 
fessional. As  an  individual  each  man  is  characterized 
by  his  own  personal  outlook  on  life,  differentiating  him 
in  feeling,  thought,  and  temperament  from  all  others 
of  his  kind.  The  habit  of  mind  of  the  individual  is 
particularly  the  category,  whether  static,  dynamic,  or 
organic,  with  which  his  customary  thinking  is  done. 
The  philosophical  Dr.  Davidson  used  to  say  in  his 
educational  writings  that  education  is  conscious  world- 
building,  which  certainly  means  in  part  that  man  lives 
in  his  own  consciousness  somewhat  as  he  does  in  his 
own  dwelling,  from  which  he  looks  out  upon  the  passing 
show.  \ 

And   man   also   has   professional    habits   of  mind. 
They  can  already  be  observed  in  simple  form  settling 


294     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

down  upon  the  young  man  of  about  twenty-five  who 
has  just  completed  his  course  in  law,  medicine,  theology, 
or  the  graduate  school.  Little  tricks  of  the  trade, 
mannerisms  of  the  profession,  marks  of  whatsoever 
cloth  it  may  be,  words  of  his  school  of  thinkers,  senti- 
ments from  his  bias  in  life,  are  already  beginning  to 
show  that  the  professional  habit  of  mind  is  making 
him  its  own.  With  the  older  ones,  of  course,  it  is  simply 
the  same  story  written  in  larger  characters. 

Habits  of  It  hardly  needs  to  be  said  that  the  real  place  in  a 

man's  life  where  we  touch  the  force  of  habit  is  in  his 
deeds.  Here  the  word  habit  has  most  of  its  associa- 
tions, here  we  find  habit  as  a  form  of  will,  a  crystallized 
form,  and  here  we  must  now  particularly  observe  its 
nature. 

The  Nature        The    tendency  to    repeat,   this    is    omnipresent  in 

of  Habit.  *         _      .       .  . 

nature  and  man.  It  is  the  tendency  to  repeat  that 
gives  laws  to  nature,  instincts  to  animals,  and  habits 
of  mind  and  action  to  man.  It  is  a  tendency 
as  truly  characteristic  of  the  inanimate  as  animate 
world,  if  we  may  make  a  distinction  odious  to  the 
hylozoists  of  all  ages.  A  piece  of  paper  once  folded 
folds  more  easily  in  the  same  place  the  second  time ;  a 
gate  once  swung  upon  its  rusty  hinges  swings  more 
easily  the  second  time;  the  key  once  turned  in  its  un- 
used lock  turns  more  easily  the  next  time;  the  tailor 
in  vain  removes  the  old  wrinkles  from  the  coat-sleeve; 
the  shoes  once  worn  begin  to  show  their  creases,  —  all 
this  is  as  true  as  that  the  deeds  of  life  seam  and  scar 
the  faces  of  youth,  and  write  out  there  in  bold  outlines 


Forming  Habits  295 

during  the  years  that  character  which  the  artist  so 
loves  to  spread  upon  his  canvas.  Thus,  to  begin  with, 
we  may  say  that  the  nature  of  habit  is  the  tendency  to 
repeat. 

So  universal  a  tendency  and  so  potent  a  force  in  Proverbs, 
shaping  human  action  has  not  escaped  the  wisdom  of 
the  race  as  expressed  in  its  proverbs.  Despise  not  a 
proverb.  Though  usually  both  one-sided  and  ex- 
aggerated, it  enwraps  a  truth,  a  portion  of  the  truth,  a 
little  epitome  of  racial  experience.  Every  child  must  be 
nourished  afresh  on  the  old  maxims:  "  Habit  is  second 
nature;"  "As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is  inclined;" 
"  The  child  is  father  of  the  man ; "  "  Man  is  a  bundle  of 
habits;"  "As  the  tree  falls  so  shall  it  lie;"  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  gnomic  list  gathered  about  the  theme  of  habit. 

Why  can  a  habit  be  formed  ?  Why  is  there  a  ten-  The  Expia- 
dency  to  repeat?  This  is  the  technical  question  as  to  Habit 
the  explanation  of  habit,  and  following  the  lead  of 
psychology,  all  whose  explanations  are  physiological, 
we  must  find  our  answer  in  the  character  of  the  nervous 
system  in  man.  An  illustration  will  help  us  here. 
Familiar  things  like  newly  laid  concrete  or  the  putty 
freshly  smoothed  against  the  window  pane  are  pliable 
enough  to  receive  impressions,  even  one's  own  initials, 
and  hard  enough  to  keep  them.  Water  would  receive 
but  not  keep  them,  marble  would  keep  but  with  diffi- 
culty receive  them.  Now  the  nervous  system  of  a 
man,  to  compare  a  delicate  and  complex  thing  with  a 
coarse  and  simple  thing,  is  like  the  concrete  or  the 
putty  in  one  respect;  it  has  plasticity,  as  the  physi-  Plasticity. 


296     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

ologists  say.  As  Mr.  Frank  Cramer  has  expressed  it, 
"The  brain  and  spinal  cord  are  plastic  enough  to 
receive  impressions  and  rigid  enough  to  retain  them."  1 
Brain  Paths.  j^ow  the  hypothesis  that  would  explain  habit  physi- 
ologically is  that  every  deed  once  done  leaves  its  least 
unimaginable  trace  or  path  in  the  plastic  nervous 
substance  where  the  nervous  energy  ran  through  to 
the  muscle  whose  contraction  caused  the  action.  This 
path  once  traced,  like  a  mark  in  the  putty  or  a  new 
wagon  road  through  a  tangle  of  woods,  is  more  easily 
followed  the  second  time;  the  brain  path  is  more 
pervious  to  later  discharges  of  nervous  energy;  lines 
of  least  resistance  are  established;  and  the  nervous 
system  is  equipped  with  its  habitual  motor  responses 
to  life's  stimuli.  The  whole  nervous  system  of  a  man 
is  like  the  drainage  system  on  the  surface  of  the  soil,  — 
the  new  showers  are  carried  off  by  the  old  channels; 
so  the  new  stimuli  are  drafted  off  through  the  old  paths 
in  the  brain  and  spinal  cord.  It  is  both  a  coarse  and 
a  hypothetical  way  of  expressing  it,  but  the  physio- 
logical idea  is  that  our  habits  are  brain- ruts.  We 
should  probably  approach  more  nearly  the  literal  truth 
by  saying  that  habits  are  the  more  pervious  pathways 
in  the  nervous  system  of  the  motor  discharges.  As 
Dr.  Carpenter  has  expressed  it,  "Our  nervous  system 
grows  to  the  modes  in  which  it  has  been  exercised;" 
or,  in  the  language  of  Professor  James,  "An  acquired 
habit  from  the  physiological  point  of  view  is  nothing 
but  a  new  pathway  of  discharge  formed  in  the  brain, 
by  which  certain  incoming  currents  tend  ever  after  to 

1  Cramer,  "Talks  to  Students  on  the  Art  of  Study,"  p.  9. 


Forming  Habits  297 

escape." l  Thus,  in  brief,  plasticity  of  the  nervous 
system  and  brain  paths  increasingly  easy  to  follow  tell 
the  story  of  the  explanation  of  habit. 

It  ought  to  be  remarked,  by  way  of  parenthesis  at 
this  point,  in  order  to  prevent  too  gross  conceptions  of 
the  effects  of  habits  upon  the  nervous  system,  that  no 
anatomy  of  the  brain  is  sufficiently  advanced  to  trace 
one  of  these  brain  paths,  that  we  do  not  know  surely 
yet  whether  a  nerve  current  is  electrical  in  character, 
and  that  consequently  the  whole  physiological  ex- 
planation given  above  is  strictly  speculative  and  not 
scientific  in  character.  But  as  Plato  was  accustomed 
to  observe  when  uncertain  about  any  point,  "something 
of  the  kind  must  be  true." 

There  are  two  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  these  Effects  of 

.  ,.  .  ,  Nutrition 

changed  conditions  in  the  nervous  system  due  to  use  and  Age. 
whose  effects  it  is  important  to  consider.  These  are 
nutrition  and  age.  Every  one  knows  how  the  growth 
of  a  tree  preserves  any  wound  to  its  trunk,  and  how  the 
growth  of  the  human  body  preserves  the  scar  of  any 
considerable  injury.  These  rough  illustrations  may 
help  us  to  grasp  the  notion  that  the  nutrition  to  nerve 
cells  supplied  by  the  coursing  blood  keeps  the  nerve 
tissue  in  its  changed  state.  And  just  as  the  lapse  of 
days  hardens  putty  and  concrete,  so  the  lapse  of  years 
gradually  reduces  the  plasticity  of  the  nervous  system, 
until  finally  the  whole  is  practically  set  like  some 
plaster  cast  of  a  man.  In  a  real  and  literal  sense  the 
plastic  youth  is  thus  fashioning  in  his  nervous  system 
by  the  daily  deeds  the  pattern  of  his  own  manhood. 

1  James,  "Briefer  Psychology,"  p.  134. 


298     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Second 
Definition 
of  Habit. 


The  Sinister 
Side  of 
Habit. 


The  Suscep- 
tibility of  the 
Nervous 
System  to 
Bad  Habits. 


By  the  age  of  thirty  the  most  of  us  are  the  servants  of 
our  past  selves.  We  may  make  new  resolutions,  but 
we  cannot  give  ourselves  new  nervous  systems.  Here 
indeed  is  the  picture  true  that  Omar  has  painted  with 
Oriental  imagery. 

"  The  Moving  Finger  writes ;  and,  having  writ, 
Moves  on :  nor  all  your  Piety  nor  Wit 

Shall  lure  it  back  to  cancel  half  a  Line, 
Nor  all  your  Tears  wash  out  a  Word  of  it." 

Only  the  moving  finger  is  not  fate,  but  will. 

To  complete  our  explanation  of  habit  in  terms  of 
plasticity,  brain  paths,  and  the  effects  of  nutrition  and 
time,  we  may  say  that  habit  is  the  memory  of  the 
brain  and  spinal  cord,  and  these  never  forget.  The 
physiologists  tell  us  that  perhaps  the  nerve  cells  in 
brain  and  spinal  cord  number  three  thousand  million. 
Their  combinations  are  more  than  ample  to  register 
every  single  thought,  feeling,  and  deed  of  many  more 
years  than  are  allotted  to  the  life  of  any  man.  And 
thus,  as  a  second  definition  of  habit,  we  may  say,  it  is 
the  change  of  nerve  structure  with  use. 

The  nature  and  explanation  of  habit  have  afforded 
us  opportunity  to  see  that  there  is  both  a  dark  and  a 
bright  side  to  the  tendency  in  the  nervous  system  to 
repeat.  The  sinister  side  of  habit  appears,  first,  in 
the  consideration  that,  though  good  habits  are  more 
easily  formed  as  better  suited  to  the  natural  uses  of  the 
nervous  system,  still  bad  habits  can  be  formed.  At 
first  the  whole  system  of  a  man  will  mightily  rebel  at 


Forming  Habits  299 

any  excess  or  injurious  shock  to  its  equilibrium,  such  as 
it  never  shows  at  the  beginning  of  a  good  and  natural 
habit,  but  in  the  end  the  injurious  habit  is  itself  in- 
corporated in  the  nervous  system  like  a  stone  or  a 
barbed  wire  about  which  a  tree  has  grown,  until  finally, 
more's  the  pity,  the  cessation  of  the  habit,  even  if 
possible,  would  be  as  injurious  as  its  continuance. 

Second,  while  good  habits  are  our  best  friends,  never  S?ur  Worst 

Enemies. 

deserting  us  in  the  time  of  need,  bad  habits  are  our 
worst  enemies,  sapping  our  vitality  in  times  both  of 
strength  and  weakness.  When  our  nervous  system  is 
weakest,  then  are  we  least  able  to  inhibit  the  action  of 
the  brain  paths  utilized  by  the  destructive  thing.  The 
bad  habit  is  merciless ;  it  not  only  throws  us,  but,  once 
we  are  down,  jumps  on  us  and  holds  us  there. 

Third,  the  sinister  side  of  habit  appears  in  the  fact  Diminishing 

Possibilities. 

that  every  day  diminishes  our  possibilities;  we  are 
young  and  plastic  but  once;  the  life  cannot  be  gone 
over  again.  This  is  well  for  us  if  the  first  deeds  are 
right  deeds,  but  endlessly  discomforting  if  the  first 
deeds  are  wrong  deeds.  Thrice  miserable  is  the  man 
who  awakes  to  find  he  has  hit  the  wrong  trail  in 
life  and  yet  cannot  back  track.  In  the  journey  of 
life  we  leave  untrodden  paths  behind  us  every 
choice  we  make.  The  only  safe  direction  is  to 
do  the  first  time  only  those  things  one  is  willing  to 
continue. 

Fourth,    habit   tends   to    make   feeling   indifferent,  indifference. 
The  enterprise  launched  with  such  high  hopes,  buoyant 
enthusiasm,  and  waving  of  flags,  comes  to  a  dead  calm 
often   in  the  ocean  of  monotony.    The  countryman 


300     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

does  not  notice  the  clouds,  the  mountains,  and  the 
sunsets  about  his  ancestral  home  so  elevating  to  his 
city  visitor,  and  the  city  man  does  not  notice  the  rush 
and  roar  all  about  him  so  confusing  to  the  country- 
man. In  the  one  case  habit  has  graded  pleasure  down 
to  indifference,  and  in  the  other  case  it  has  graded 
discomfort  up  to  indifference.  The  good  habits  whose 
effortful  formation  gave  us  some  high  sense  of  self- 
mastery  are  now  for  us  a  matter  of  course,  and  the 
bad  habits  whose  chosen  beginnings  so  terrified  our 
conscience  and  humbled  our  self-respect  are  now  for 
us  also  the  same  matter  of  course.  As  with  the  prisoner 
of  Chillon,  the  shades  of  our  dungeon  may  make  us  in- 
different to  the  light  of  the  sun.  Habit  is  the  enemy  of 
strong  feeling.  To  quicken  in  us  the  pulse  again,  to 
brighten  the  eye,  to  crimson  the  cheek,  the  old  must 
periodically  give  place  to  the  new. 

HOW  to  The  practical  question  next  arises  as  to  how  habits 

make  or  x  * 

break  may  be  forged  or  broken.  It  is  already  evident  that 

it  is  easier  to  get  them  than  to  get  rid  of  them,  for  in 
getting  them  the  nervous  system  is  virgin  soil,  while  in 
getting  rid  of  them  the  nervous  system  is  like  the  under- 
ground of  a  big  city.  The  consequence  is  that  we 
usually  keep  the  habits  we  get.  The  formation  of  right 
habits  is  vastly  better  than  the  reformation  of  bad 
habits.  The  answer  to  our  practical  question  consists 
in  observing  five  familiar  maxims. 

Action.  First,  act  on  every  opportunity.  The  set  to  the 

nervous  system  is  given  by  deeds,  not  words.  Better  a 
single  right  act  than  a  dozen  resolutions  to  act  rightly ; 


Forming  Habits  301 

in  breaking  a  habit  better  a  single  refusal  now  than  a 
dozen  intentions  to  refuse  next  time. 

Second,  make  a  strong  start.    Well  begun  is  here  Astrong 
indeed  half  done.     The  vigorous  initiative  is  like  the 
first  deep  furrow  through  fallow  land,  —  it  may  in- 
troduce a  new  system  of  drainage.    To  set  forth  with- 
out a  stout  heart  is  to  invite  failure. 

Third,  allow  no  exception.     Consider  each  time  that  No 

.  •  mi  •        •      i  Exception. 

the  whole  issue  is  at  stake.  The  exception  is  the  storm 
that  carries  away  from  the  foundation  the  inhibiting 
dam  across  the  undesired  brain  path.  The  whole 
structure  must  be  founded  anew,  with  less  likelihood 
of  success  than  before. 

Fourth,  for  the  bad  habit,  substitute  something  good. 
To  keep  the  mind  on  the  good  is  easier  than  to  keep  it 
off  the  bad.  The  positive  occupation,  not  the  negative 
prohibition,  must  engross  attention.  Withdraw  the 
mind  from  the  ills  we  have  by  centring  it  on  the  goods 
we  want. 

And  fifth,  summoning  all  the  man  within,  use  effort  Effort- 
of  will.  By  these  momentous  words  nothing  more 
mysterious  is  meant  here  than  listening  attentively  to 
the  low  whispers  of  duty  in  the  midst  of  the  storm  in 
the  soul,  looking  intently  upon  the  shining  face  of 
goodness  when  wanton  figures  play  among  the  shadows 
of  the  imagination,  and  laying  hold  upon  some  solid 
righteous  thing  when  the  soul  grows  faint  and  dizzy 
in  the  world's  wild  whirl. 

Something  of  the  sense  of  the  importance  of  habit  The  impor- 
must  have  come  upon  us  already  as  we  have  rehearsed   Habit, 
together  these  familiar  things  about  the  patterns  we 


302     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

are  weaving  into  the  web  of  life.  A  simple  enumera- 
tion of  what  habit  does  for  us  will  suffice  to  magnify 
its  importance  in  our  estimation.  Without  illustra- 
tion it  will  be  obvious  how  habit  makes  action  accu- 
rate and  speedy  through  the  acquisition  of  skill  and 
the  simplification  of  movement;  how  it  consequently 
diminishes  fatigue  and  permits  vaster  accomplishments ; 
how  it  mechanizes  the  essentials  of  survival,  like  walk- 
ing, eating,  dressing,  talking,  sleeping,  working,  and 
the  rest,  leaving  the  mind  thus  free  for  the  solution  of 
problems  and  the  undertaking  of  the  new  tasks  set 
for  civilization;  how  it  introduces  the  element  of 
reliability  into  personal  and  social  action,  thus  per- 
mitting cooperation  in  the  world's  work  to  continue, 
and  incidentally  the  unscrupulous  to  fatten  on  the 
honest;  and,  finally,  and  most  personally  of  all,  how 
it  fixes  into  firmness  the  character  of  a  man  and  pre- 
sents it  to  eternity.  Unless  the  law  of  continuity 
fails,  what  a  man  shall  be  is  the  fulfilment  of  what 
he  is  now  becoming.  Destiny  is  the  harvest  of  char- 
acter; character  is  the  summation  of  habit;  habit  is 
the  repetition  of  deed ;  deed  is  the  expression  of  thought ; 
and  thought  is  the  spring  of  life.  The  far-off  issue 
of  life  is  out  of  the  thoughts  of  the  heart;  keep  then 
thy  heart  with  all  diligence. 

Educational        And  what  are  the  educational    conclusions  of    the 

Conclusions. 

Education  as  whole  matter?     First,  as  teachers  we  must  think  of 
Habit.  the  whole  of  education  as  a  process  of  habit  forma- 

tion. From  this  point  of  view  education  should  aim 
to  equip  the  nervous  system  of  the  young  with  habits 


Forming  Habits  303 

of  suitable  reaction  on  life's  stimuli.  As  Bacon  with 
characteristic  pithiness  has  expressed  it:  "Many 
examples  may  be  put  of  the  force  of  custom,  both  upon 
mind  and  body;  therefore,  since  custom  is  the  prin- 
cipal magistrate  of  man's  life,  let  men  by  all  means 
endeavor  to  obtain  good  customs.  Certainly,  custom 
is  most  perfect  when  it  beginneth  in  young  years ;  this 
we  call  education,  which  is,  in  effect,  but  an  early  cus- 
tom." > 
Second,  the  greatness  of  education  consists  in  the  TheGreat- 

,  ,  -  ness  of 

fact  that  it  captures  the  plastic  nervous  system  of  the  Education, 
youth  of  the  world.  Nerve  plasticity  and  the  school 
age  are  practically  identical :  it  is  the  former,  of  course, 
that  determines  the  latter.  No  institution,  like  busi- 
ness, that  touches  man's  life  in  its  maturity  can  begin 
to  compare  hi  opportunity  with  education.  In  the 
final  round-up  of  human  character  a  single  year  in 
the  teens  contributes  more  than  the  whole  decade  of 
the  forties.  To  be  a  year  late  entering  business  where 
all  years  are  alike  means  nothing;  to  be  a  year  early 
in  leaving  school  where  all  years  are  unique  means 
absolute  loss.  To  make  a  life  is  more  than  to  make 
a  living. 

Third,  the  nervous  system  of  children  appears  al-   inspiration 
most  equally  susceptible  to  good  and  bad  habits.    A  warning, 
nervous  system  is  born  into  the  world  neither  upright 
nor  depraved,  but  plastic;  it  has  no  habits;  its  drain- 
age system,  other  than  for  instinctive  acts,  is  unformed ; 
unfortunately,  it  may  be  weakened  through  parental 
excesses  or  deprivations,  but  even  here  nature  shows 

1  Francis  Bacon,  "Essay  on  Custom  and  Education." 


304     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


First  Action, 

then 

Thought. 


Instruction. 


herself  a  kind  mother  to  the  offspring  and  is  surpris- 
ingly protective ;  fortunately,  too,  acquired  parental  bad 
habits  are  probably  not  transmissible.  This  situation  to 
the  teacher  is  both  an  inspiration  and  a  warning :  an 
inspiration,  in  that  this  child  comes  almost  brand-new 
from  the  fruitful  womb  of  nature  and  is  all  ours  for 
the  time ;  a  warning,  lest  in  any  way  unwittingly  from 
us  his  little  system  is  fashioned  awry  or  not  directed 
aright.  But  when  our  knowledge  is  outdone  and  our 
tongues  cease,  then  it  is,  let  us  remember,  that  love 
never  faileth. 

Fourth,  under  adolescence,  strive  primarily  for 
habits  of  right  action;  during  and  after  adolescence, 
for  habits  of  right  thinking.  The  reason  is  evident: 
with  the  younger,  the  act  is  the  thing;  instincts  and 
impulses,  imitations  and  suggestions,  these  are  fash- 
ioning the  child  into  habits  of  action  long  before  it  is 
thinking  out  rational  plans  of  living  for  itself.  But 
with  the  adolescent  all  the  wealth  of  his  emotional 
and  volitional  life  is  coming  under  the  sway  of  his 
rationality,  and  here  it  is  all  important  that  the  habits 
of  right  thinking  be  formed  to  insure  against  change 
the  habits  of  right  acting,  and  to  secure  a  sane  and 
wholesome  outlook  on  life.  Of  course  it  should  go. 
without  saying  that  children  are  also  beginning  to 
think  and  that  adolescents  are  continuing  to  act.  The 
point  is  that  with  children  acts,  and  with  adolescents 
thoughts,  count  most. 

Fifth,  hence  it  is  that  in  early  adolescence  pupils 
should  carefully  be  taught  the  nature  and  importance 
of  habit.  It  is  at  this  tune  that  life  habits  are  being 


Forming  Habits  305 

chosen,  either  old  ones  reaffirmed  or  new  ones  selected. 
At  this  age  pupils  can  deliberate,  and  a  little  instruc- 
tion as  to  what  a  habit  really  is  and  means  will  always, 
crede  experto,  be  valued  and  utilized.  There  is  no 
scientific  subject,  not  even  the  effects  of  alcohol  upon 
the  system,  that  will  so  carry  its  .own  message  as  habit. 
Give  it  a  chance.  I  wish  I  knew  how  to  say  strongly 
that  boys  and  girls  reaching  adolescence  should  be 
taken  into  the  utmost  confidence  of  fathers  and 
mothers,  principals  and  teachers,  concerning  those 
personal  habits  that  make  or  mar  the  beauty  and  joy 
of  human  living. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Inheritance  of  Habits. 

2.  Generalized  Habits. 

3.  Explanation  of  Plasticity. 

4.  Indirect  Education  of  the  Will. 

REFERENCES  ON  HABIT 

Angell,  Psychology,  pp.  52-63. 
Baker,  Education  and  Life,  pp.  92-95. 
Calderwood,  On  Teaching,  ch.  IV. 
Griggs,  Moral  Education,  ch.  XIV. 
James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  I,  ch.  IV. 
MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  Part  I,  ch.  VL 
Morgan,  Habit  and  Instinct,  ch.  VII. 
Oppenheim,  Mental  Growth  and  Control,  ch.  VII 
Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  197-208. 
Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  ch.  V. 
Thomdike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  pp.  199-229. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 


Advance 
over  Pre- 
ceding 
Stages. 


Appearance 
of  Individ- 
uality. 


Importance 
of  Choice. 


DELIBERATING  AND  CHOOSING 

AT  this  point  consciousness  takes  possession  of 
action.  Hitherto  consciousness  has  been  the  spectator 
or  the  assistant  in  action  originated  largely  without 
itself.  It  now  becomes  the  judge  and  the  executor  of 
action.  Here  fully  the  will  is  consciousness  in  action. 

In  this  new  stage  in  the  development  of  will  the  sense 
of  individuality  is  regnant.  No  longer  simply  a  fol- 
lower, one  is  now  also  an  originator.  The  power  of 
initiative  is  developed.  The  dignity  of  being  a  person 
is  felt.  All  the  earlier  influences  of  instinct,  impulse, 
imitation,  suggestion,  and  habit  are  present  in  full 
force,  but  brought  into  ordered  subjection  to  the  self. 
Negatively,  the  new  period  means  self-control;  posi- 
tively, it  means  self-expression. 

In  actual  extent  the  part  played  by  deliberation  and 
choice  is  comparatively  slight,  but  momentous.  A 
choice  may  reaffirm  a  bad  habit  that  shall  reduce 
future  life  to  servitude,  or  it  may  support  a  good  im- 
pulse that  will  liberate  the  divine  powers  resident  in 
manhood.  What  an  adolescent  is  may  be  credited 
mostly  to  his  heredity  and  environment;  what  he  be- 
comes must  also  be  credited  to  himself.  This  period 
means  the  enthronement  of  reason,  either  to  rule  or 

misrule. 

306 


Deliberating  and  Choosing  307 

By  deliberation  we  mean  the  estimating  of  impulses  Definitions 
to  action,  or  motives,  and  their  consequences ;  and  by  °ion  !^dera 
choice  we  mean  the  mind's  affirmation  of  one  of  these  Choice, 
motives,  thereby  inhibiting  the  others.     A  deliberate 
act  is  thus  one  performed  after  reflection.    Our  first 
deliberate  acts  are  probably  attempts  to  correct  wrong 
impulsive  acts.    The  essential  function  of  a  deliberate 
act  is  to  prevent  hasty,  and  so  possibly  wrong,  reactions 
to  stimuli,  and  to  secure  right  reactions;   in  short,  to 
secure  most  beneficial  reactions  on  stimuli.    The  high- 
est type  of  responsive  action  is  intelligent. 

The  possibility  of  a  deliberate  act  thus  presupposes  what  a 

*  ^\  Deliberate 

several  things,  viz.  (i)  time  to  think,  a  penod  of  Act  implies, 
hesitancy  and  uncertainty;  (2)  several  apparently 
open  possibilities  of  action,  held  before  consciousness 
as  ideas;  (3)  as  these  ideas  are  all  more  or  less 
attractive  to  consciousness,  there  are  conflicting  motives 
or  desires,  a  motive  or  desire  being  just  the  attractiveness 
of  an  idea  for  consciousness;  (4)  there  may  also  be 
present  an  ultimate  motive  or  standard,  by  which  the 
others  are  to  be  estimated,  e.g.  the  desire  to  do  right, 
the  intention  to  succeed  regardless  of  means,  etc. ;  and 
(5)  choice,  or  the  selection  of  one  of  the  ideas  to  follow. 
In  short,  a  deliberate  act  is  the  resolution  of  conflict- 
ing desires. 
As  everywhere  in  mentality,  and  nowhere  more  indjvidual . 

*  Vanations  in 

noticeably  than  in  deliberation,  individual  differences  choosing, 
appear.     Professor  James  enumerates  "five  chief  types 
of  decision,"  as  follows,  (i)   the  reasonable  type,  which 
adopts   without   effort  or    constraint    the    alternative 
favored  by  the  balance  of  arguments ;  (2)   the  drifting 


308     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Teach- 
er's Assist- 
ance. 


The  Knowl- 
edge of  the 
Right. 


type,  which  follows  a  course  accidentally  determined 
from  without;  (3)  the  reckless  type,  which  follows  a 
course  accidentally  determined  from  within;  (4)  the 
converting  type,  whereby  "we  suddenly  pass  from  the 
easy  and  careless  to  the  sober  and  strenuous  mood ; " 
and  (5)  the  effort  type,  in  which  with  a  feeling  of 
effort  we  choose  the  hard  right  thing  rather  than  the 
easy  wrong  thing.  Any  individual  may  at  different 
times  illustrate  each  type;  he  also  probably  tends  to 
conform  generally  to  one  of  the  types. 

It  is  evident  that  the  nature  of  deliberation  and  the 
types  of  choices  determine  the  kind  of  assistance  which 
the  educator  may  render  pupils  who  have  reached  this 
stage  of  development.  In  general,  but  two  things  are 
necessary  here,  which,  however,  are  very  comprehensive, 
viz.  the  knowledge  of  the  right,  and  the  disposition  to 
do  it.  To  consider  each  of  these  separately. 

First,  the  knowledge  of  the  right.  When  pupils  are 
beginning  to  think  for  themselves,  the  time  has  come 
for  direct  ethical  instruction.  The  fully  fashioned  will 
must  be  instructed;  an  uninstructed  will,  however 
faultless  its  conformity  to  right  standards,  does  not 
possess  itself.  To  do  right  through  choice  presupposes 
a  knowledge  of  the  right.  Pupils  who  are  deliberating, 
and  so  can  use  knowledge  in  the  direction  of  conduct, 
must  be  taught  what  the  virtues  and  duties  are.  This 
should  be  done  incidentally  by  all  teachers  in  all  fitting 
connections,  and  also  specifically  in  connection  with  an 
elective  high  school  course  in  Ethics.  To  fit  teachers  for 
their  work  of  incidental  as  well  as  specific  ethical  in- 


Deliberating  and  Choosing  309 

struction,  the  training  of  teachers  should  include  a 
careful  study  of  ethics  and  practical  sociology.  Such 
training  would  enable  teachers  to  indicate  to  pupils  the 
ethical  bearings  of  all  class-room  questions  on  practical 
living.  We  require  teachers  to  be  of  good  moral 
character,  but  we  do  not  require  that  they  should  know 
the  elements  of  morality. 

The  ethical  instruction  in  the  schools,  in  order  rightly  The  Mini- 

J     mumofEthi- 

to  mediate  conduct  with  ideas,  must  include,  as  a  cai  instmc- 
minimum,  teaching  (i)  the  duty  of  deliberation.  "To  tion* 
think  is  the  moral  act,"  says  Professor  James.  It  holds 
the  equilibrium  of  ideas  until  the  die  be  cast  aright. 
(2)  The  instillation  of  a  moral  ideal,  for  example,  the 
Golden  Rule,  as  a  standard  by  which  to  judge  motives, 
to  follow  this  ideal  being  the  ultimate  motive  of  all 
choices  and  living.  (3)  Teaching  the  consequences  of 
good  and  bad  choices  upon  self  and  others  ere  they 
are  made.  Put  the  moral  experience  of  the  race  at  the 
disposition  of  the  young  deliberator.  In  short,  after 
deliberation  arises,  the  first  essential  in  the  training 
of  the  will  is  the  training  in  right  ideas. 

Socrates,  indeed,  thought  that  this  was  enough,  that  is  it  enough 

,  ,     i  ,    to  know  the 

knowledge  is  virtue,  that  virtue  could  be  taught,  that  if 
a  man  knew  what  was  right  and  that  it  was  good  for 
him,  with  pleasurable  consequences,  he  would  do  it, 
for  every  man  is  seeking  what  is  good,  that  is,  pleasur- 
able, for  him.  Plato  also  thought  that  it  was  enough, 
that  all  vice  is  involuntary,  and  due  to  the  lie  of  igno- 
rance hi  the  soul.  This  is  the  hedonism  and  the  intel- 
lectualism  of  Greece  before  Aristotle,  who  saw  and  said 
that  the  famous  dictum  of  Socrates  confused  the  means 


jio     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

with  the  end  and  identified  a  part  of  virtue  with  the 
whole.  But  with  Socrates  and  Plato  we  must  agree  in 
part,  viz.  without  knowledge,  no  virtue,  though  there 
may  be  innocence.  We  may  go  one  step  further  and 
say,  in  accord  with  Bain's  principle  of  ideo-motor 
action,  to  know  the  right  is  to  be  tempted  to  do  it, 
and  to  think  of  nothing  but  the  right  is  indeed  to  do  it. 
But  what  Socrates  and  Plato  fail  to  observe,  the  volun- 
tarism of  Aristotle  and  of  Christian  thinking  recognizes. 
It  is  possible  to  see  and  approve  the  better  and  follow  the 
worse.  Human  nature  is  weak  and  does  not  always 
respond  to  the  ideas  of  the  right ;  it  is  thoughtless,  and 
fails  to  remember  the  right;  it  is  inattentive,  and  lets 
the  right  slip  out  of  consciousness;  it  is  prone  to  evil, 
and  lets  pleasures  of  wrong-doing  fill  the  focus  of  con- 
sciousness; so  that  virtue  is  not  alone  knowledge  of 
the  right,  —  it  is  knowledge  plus  performance.  In 
addition  to  training  in  right  ideas,  we  need,  therefore,  — 
The  Dis-  Second,  the  disposition  to  follow  them.  How  shall 

dcTthe11 1        teachers  cultivate  in  pupils  the  disposition  to  do  as  well 
Right.  as   t^y   knOW?    Here   our   task   is   indeed   difficult. 

Morals  cannot  be  taught,  though  ethics  can;  the  dis- 
position to  do  right  cannot  be  taught,  though  it  can  be 
cultivated ;  character  is  not  a  gift  from  teacher  to  pupil, 
though  it  may  be  achieved  by  the  pupil,  under  the 
stimulus  of  the  teacher.  In  cultivating  the  disposition 
to  do  the  right  our  reliance  must  be  placed  in  these  three 
things,  viz.  right  bringing  up,  the  location  of  respon- 
sibility, and  reaching  the  individual  pupil  according  to 
his  type  of  decision.  A  word  concerning  each  of  these. 
First,  children  who  are  reared  right  through  all  the 


Deliberating  and  Choosing  311 

preceding  stages  of  will  from  instinct  through  habit  Right  Rear- 
have  ingrained  in  their  dispositions  a  moral  bent,  recep- 
tivity, and  responsiveness.  Making  right  adolescent 
choices  is  first  a  matter  of  having  right  pre-adolescent 
habits.  As  Aristotle,  that  wise  and  catholic  moralist, 
observes,  "The  man  who  has  had  a  good  moral  train- 
ing either  already  has  arrived  at  principles  of  action, 
or  will  easily  accept  them  when  pointed  out." 

Second,  we  may  cultivate  the  disposition  to  do  the  Location  of 
right  by  the  definite  placing  of  responsibility  upon  young  buTty™ 
thinkers  and  actors.  It  sobers,  it  increases  the  moral 
statute,  it  develops  the  sense  of  responsibility.  Systems 
of  school  management  that  do  not  trust  older  pupils  to 
look  after  themselves  need  not  be  surprised  if  they  are 
unable  to  do  so  when  left  to  themselves.  The  college 
boys  that  give  most  trouble  come  from  paternalistic 
schools.  The  adolescent  pupil  must  learn  to  choose 
by  choosing.  To  shield  him  from  bad  choices  by  re- 
fusing him  all  choices  is  disastrous  in  the  end.  Like 
the  race,  he  too  must  take  counsel  of  his  mistakes.  To 
save  from  blunders  at  any  cost  is  not  a  principle  of 
moral  education.  President  Eliot  writes:  "This  cul- 
tivation [of  the  will]  can  come  only  through  choosing 
and  doing;  it  cannot  come  through  submission,  un- 
reasoning obedience,  inaction,  or  any  sort  of  passive- 
ness.  In  this  respect  a  child's  training  closely  resembles 
a  whole  people's  training.  Democracy  makes  choices 
and  decisions,  and  acts  for  itself."  l 

Third,  cultivate  the  disposition  to  follow  the  right  Dealing  with 

the  Individ- 

by  dealing  with  the  individual  pupil  according  to  his  Uai  win. 

1  C.  W.  Eliot,  "The  School,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  1903. 


312     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

type  of  decision  when  you  can.  With  the  rational  type 
it  is  necessary  only  to  reason  together  in  private. 
With  the  drifting  type,  you  must  attach  him  very  closely 
to  yourself,  that  he  may  feel  the  momentum  of  your 
current.  The  reckless  type  is  to  be  treated  as  the  over- 
impulsive  child  above.  The  converting  type  of  decision 
every  pupil  should  be  led  to  make  in  conjunction  with 
the  agencies  of  the  church  before  leaving  the  secondary 
school.  Never  again  will  life  seem  quite  so  serious  as 
to  the  graduating  high  school  pupils.  It  is  the  time  to 
set  the  nervous  system  on  the  high  level.  The  effortful 
type  of  decision  will  take  care  of  itself;  here  we  have 
not  to  teach  but  to  learn. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Direct  Ethical  Instruction. 

2.  Text-books  in  Ethics. 

3.  Freedom  of  the  Will. 

4.  Limitation  of  Choice. 

REFERENCES  ON  DELIBERATING  AND  CHOOSING 

Cooley,  Human  Nature  and  the  Social  Order,  ch.  XII. 
Griggs,  Moral  Education,  ch.  XIX. 
James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  pp.  570-592. 
James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  XV. 

MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  Part  III,  chs.  I  and  II. 
Search,  An  Ideal  School,  ch.  XVI. 

Thompson,  Moral  Instruction  in  Schools,  Int.  J.  of  Ethics,  Octo 
her,  1904. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

SECURING  ATTENTION 

IT  may  be  a  little  surprising  to  us  at  first  to  find  the  Attention 

.  .  111-  r  conditions 

discussion  of  attention  under  the  subject  of  will,  but  a  conscious 
little  reflection  will  show  us  that  here  is  the  place  for  Actlon- 
it.  Each  one  of  the  preceding  stages  in  the  develop- 
ment of  will  has  really  included  an  element  of  attention, 
which  we  did  not  then  and  there  notice,  to  avoid  too 
much  complexity  in  the  argument.  A  little  review  will 
now  show  that  consciousness  was  really  attentive  also 
when  it  was  acting  under  the  influences  of  instinct,  im- 
pulse, imitation,  suggestion,  habit,  and  choice.  Had 
not  consciousness  attended,  either  involuntarily  or  vol- 
untarily, to  each  of  these  types  of  action,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  any  action  would  have  taken  place.  Thus  we 
see  that  attention  is  the  omnipresent  condition  of  that 
conscious  action  which  we  know  as  will. 

The  psychological  literature  on  attention  is  large, 
whose  conclusions,  as  hitherto  in  these  practical  dis- 
cussions, we  must  largely  take  for  granted  as  known, 
that  we  may  pass  on  at  once  to  their  bearing  on  the 
teacher's  work.  Just  at  this  point,  for  instance,  it  is 
necessary  to  omit  such  topics  as  the  nature,  con- 
ditions, effects,  and  explanation  of  attention,  that  we 
may  have  space  to  discuss  the  hindrances  and  the  helps 
to  attention  in  the  work  of  teaching. 

313 


314     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Mean- 
ing of 
Attention. 


We  are  already  so  familiar  with  the  term  and  with  that 
mental  condition  for  which  it  stands  that  it  will  be 
clear  to  define  attention  as  consciousness  occupying 
itself  with  any  object.  It  is  important  to  observe  that 
that  object  of  attention  may  be  either  internal  or  ex- 
ternal ;  that  is,  it  may  be  a  feeling,  or  an  idea,  as  well 
as  a  deed  or  a  physical  body.  These  two  directions  of 
attention  clearly  appeared  in  the  distinction  between 
inner  and  outer  perception  in  chapter  VIII. 

All  teachers  want  the  attention  of  their  pupils.  How 
to  get  it  and  how  to  keep  it  after  getting  it  are  therefore 
constant  problems.  We  may  profitably  begin  our  in- 
quiry by  asking,  What  are  the  hindrances  to  attention  ? 
These  in  themselves  are  largely  removable  through 
our  efforts  directly,  or  indirectly  with  the  aid  of  the 
home. 


Hindrances 
to  Attention. 


Poor 

Physical 

Conditions. 


The  enumeration  of  the  hindrances  to  attention  on  the 
part  of  pupils  would  include  in  general  three  types  of 
things,  viz.  poor  physical  conditions,  poor  mental 
conditions,  and  certain  poor  school  practices.  To  con- 
sider these  in  succession. 

Poor  physical  conditions  would  include  such  matters 
as  the  following,  viz.  a  weak  physical  body  whose 
quantity  of  nervous  energy  is  not  adequate  to  the  de- 
mands made  upon  it  by  a  concentrated  consciousness; 
distractions  of  sight  and  sounds,  the  doing  of  other 
things  than  the  regular  work  in  hand,  such  as  the  open- 
ing or  closing  of  doors  and  windows  during  the  reci- 
tation; bad  ventilation,  introducing  noxious  gases  into 
the  lungs  that  stupefy  brain  action;  poor  temperature 


Securing  Attention  315 

conditions,  dividing  attention  between  the  work  and 
the  physical  sensations  of  heat  and  cold;  and  uncom- 
fortable furnishings,  seats  and  desks,  that  induce  con- 
tinual readjustments  of  position. 

Poor  mental  conditions  that  hinder  attention  would  Poor  Mental 

.  1.1,  Conditions. 

include  such  matters  as  indolence,  that  can  and  will  not 
attend ;  obstinacy,  that  wills  not  to  attend ;  weak  wills, 
that  apparently  lack  the  ability  to  make  an  effort; 
emotional  excitement,  such  as  fear,  that  would  attend 
if  it  could ;  intellectual  quickness,  that  does  not  attend 
because  it  does  not  have  to  do  so  in  order  to  keep  up ; 
and,  perhaps  greater  than  all  other  poor  mental  con- 
ditions combined,  uninteresting  work,  that  does  not 
naturally  invite  attention.  It  may  be  well  to  remark 
at  this  point  that  the  so-called  indolent  pupil  regularly 
has  one  or  two  matters  of  vital  interest  to  him  in  which 
he  becomes  very  busily  engaged  on  every  opportunity, 
and  through  which  he  may  be  reached  by  knitting  on 
one  interest  to  another;  also,  that  an  obstinate  child 
may  frequently  best  be  ignored  until  he  straightens  out ; 
and  also,  that  the  wandering  attention  of  an  intellec- 
tually quick  pupil  may  often  be  restrained  by  habitually 
calling  on  him  to  answer  the  questions  which  he  did 
not  hear. 

Poor  school  practices  that  hinder  attention  are,  for  Poor  School 
example,  the  requirement  that  a  rigidly  stiff  bodily 
position  be  maintained,  as  though  pupils,  to  borrow 
Compayr6's  phrase,  were  "thinking  statues";  also 
censuring  or  punishing  a  pupil  in  the  presence  of  other 
pupils,  which  for  the  time  being  interrupts  the  whole 
school  order;  and  the  besetting  sin  of  whispering,  due 


316     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

to  the  fundamental  instinct  of  communication  when 
stimulated  by  idleness,  for  which  there  is  no  defence,  and 
whose  cure  is  either  interesting  occupation  or  voluntary 
restraint.  These,  then,  are  the  frequent  hindrances  to 
attention,  the  most  of  them  capable  of  removal. 

The  TWO  What  are  the   helps  to  attention?    Before  we  can 

Kinds  of  ,  .  .  ...  , 

Attention.  answer  this  question  it  will  be  necessary  to  note  the  two 
kinds  of  attention,  viz.  the  involuntary  and  the  volun- 
tary. Involuntary  attention  is  that  given  to  an  interest- 
ing object,  as  when  a  thrilling  story  engrosses  us,  or  a 
charming  speaker  holds  us  spellbound,  or  some  skilful 
or  exciting  performance  rivets  our  gaze,  or  even  when 
we  raise  the  window  shades  in  the  morning  to  see  what 
the  weather  is  going  to  be  like  to-day.  In  such  cases 
the  attention  is  called  involuntary  because  we  attend 
without  any  effort  of  will,  but  naturally,  easily,  spon- 
taneously. Voluntary  attention,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
that  given  to  an  uninteresting,  though  important,  matter, 
as  when  we  hunt  through  railway  guides,  unattractive 
in  themselves,  to  find  the  train  we  want,  or  pursue 
the  study  of  a  difficult  and  unattractive  lesson,  or 
write  a  delayed  letter  as  a  matter  of  sheer  duty,  or 
even  turn  from  an  agreeable  after-dinner  conver- 
sation to  the  routine  work  of  the  evening.  In  such 
cases  the  attention  is  called  voluntary  because  it  seems 
to  require  some  effort  of  will,  some  slight  or  severe 
struggle,  some  inhibition  of  the  line  of  least  resistance, 
a  setting  of  oneself  to  do  what  otherwise  would  not  be 
accomplished.  In  summary  it  might  be  said  that  the 
stimulus  to  involuntary  attention  is  the  feeling  of  in- 


Securing  Attention  317 

terest,  the  stimulus  to  voluntary  attention  is  effort  of 
will ;  in  the  former  we  yield  ourselves  to  the  agreeable, 
in  the  latter  we  nerve  ourselves  to  do  the  disagreeable. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  uninteresting  object  receiving 
voluntary  attention  is  always  deemed  by  us  to  be  im- 
portant, that  is,  it  has  a  bearing  on  our  future  lives,  as 
when  the  youth  studies  calculus  which  he  does  not  like 
for  the  sake  of  the  future  engineering  which  he  expects 
to  like.  The  point  of  this  remark  is  that  while  in- 
voluntary attention  is  our  response  to  an  immediate 
interest,  voluntary  attention  is  our  response  to  an  ulti- 
mate interest.  This  ultimate  interest  is  not  a  felt  good, 
it  is  a  conceived  good.  It  is  evident  that  the  ability 
to  act  through  conceived  rather  than  felt  goods  is  one 
of  the  differentia  of  superior  intelligence  and  maturer 
power. 

After  this  brief  excursus  into  the  theory  of  attention  we  The  Secret 

.  .  ,  ,  of  Attention. 

are  prepared  to  answer  with  some  assurance  the  ques- 
tion, What  are  the  helps  to  attention  ?  The  psychological 
principles  in  getting  attention  reduce  themselves  to  two, 
viz.  arouse  interest  and  secure  effort.  How  glibly  these 
great  words  run  off  from  our  pen  and  fall  from  our 
lips !  Attention  through  interest  and  effort,  —  that  is 
it,  surely;  interest  for  involuntary  attention  and  effort 
for  voluntary  attention.  The  secret  seems  to  be  in  our 
possession.  But  what  are  interest  and  effort,  and  how 
may  they  be  gotten?  We  have  but  words  until  this 
question  is  answered. 
Interest  is  the  feeling  prompting  to  spontaneous  HOW  to 

•    •  T  \  i      /-  i  «-•          arouse 

activity.     It  may  be  aroused,  first,  through  whetting  interest. 


ji 8      The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Curiosity. 


Appercep- 
tion. 


the  appetite  of  curiosity,  taking  care  to  keep  the  demand 
slightly  hi  excess  of  the  supply.  Where  there  is  no 
desire  to  know,  there  is  no  interest  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge :  or,  where  desire  has  failed,  further  supply 
is  satiation,  not  satisfaction.  We  teach  and  we  get  no 
attentive  response,  because  there  is  no  mental  appetite 
for  our  wares.  Only  those  who  hunger  and  thirst  after 
instruction  can  be  filled.  Or,  as  Plato  puts  it,  "Iris, 
the  messenger  of  heaven,  is  the  daughter  of  Thaumas." 
Prepare  the  minds  of  the  class  for  the  content  of  the 
lesson  before  its  presentation  is  begun.  Be  inventive 
of  methods  of  awakening  the  questioning  attitude  in  the 
class  concerning  the  topic  in  hand.  We'  should  arouse 
more  interest  if  we  spent  less  time  in  communicating 
and  more  time  in  stimulating.  Fortunately,  nature  is 
on  our  side,  curiosity  is  an  instinct,  and  to  awaken  it 
the  slightest  stimulus  is  often  ample. 

Second,  having  begun  by  arousing  curiosity,  continue 
by  connecting  new  material  with  old  interests.  Every 
set  of  boys  and  girls  have  a  stock  of  contemporary  in- 
terests on  hand,  some  personal,  some  social,  some 
political,  and  so  on,  and  all  constantly  fluctuating. 
Study  these,  and  make  the  teaching  of  the  lesson  an 
interpretation  of  life.  To  every  pupil  the  schoolroom 
should  be  the  mirror  of  himself.  The  interests  he  brings 
with  him  are  developed  and  enlarged  and  understood 
by  means  of  the  instruction  he  receives.  To  miss  the 
point  of  contact  with  our  pupils  is  not  to  teach,  it  is  to 
be  a  taskmaster.  A  lesson  begun  hi  wonder  and  con- 
tinued as  a  life  process  will  have  the  interested,  the 
enchained  attention  of  the  class. 


Securing  Attention  319 

The  motor  power  of  interest  in  education  has  not 
even  yet  been  widely  enough  utilized.  Professor  Le 
Conte  tells  the  story  in  his  autobiography  of  an  experi- 
ence of  his  with  some  criminals  in  a  prison  in  Carson 
City  in  1882.  Fossil  footprints  had  been  found  in  the 
sandstone  of  the  prison  yard.  He  secured  the  aid  of 
the  convicts  in  blasting  out  the  specimens  and  hunting 
for  more.  He  writes,  "They  enjoyed  the  investigation 
intensely  and  worked  very  intelligently.  We  entirely 
forgot  that  they  were  criminals  and  some  of  them  mur- 
derers, and  all  worked  together  with  interest.  The 
effect  of  their  work  and  interest  in  it  were  wonderful ; 
before  dull  and  sullen,  they  became  bright,  eager, 
cheerful,  and  happy." 

Effort  is  the  will  to  do  the  hard  right  thing.     It  is  Howtose- 

,  . _      ,  cure  Effort. 

necessary  for  voluntary  attention,  and  Professor  Stout 
makes  us  pause  to  think  when  he  says,  "All  mental 
training  and  discipline  depend  on  the  victory  of  volun- 
tary attention." *  Effort  is  to  be  secured  through 
some  ultimate,  not  immediate,  interest.  Ultimate  in-  Awaken 
terests  may  themselves  be  either  superficial  or  profound  interests, 
in  character.  Superficial  ultimate  interest,  leading  to 
the  voluntary  performance  of  uninteresting  work,  would 
be  illustrated  by  such  things  as  desire  for  promotion, 
marks,  prizes,  and  the  teacher's  word  of  praise;  pro- 
found ultimate  interests  mean  the  awakening  of  life 
purposes,  the  forming  of  life  plans,  the  pursuit  of  chosen 
ideals,  the  disagreeable  and  arduous  means  for  these 
worthy  ends  being  manfully  undertaken  for  the  sake  of 
their  outcome.  The  advance  to  the  profound  ultimate 

1  Stout,  "Manual  of  Psychology,"  p.  613. 


320     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

interests  will  usually  have  to  be  made  through  the 
superficial.  We  may  be  sure  that  some  pupils  will 
always  be  stimulated  to  make  an  effort,  if  we  show 
our  dissatisfaction  at  inferior  work,  if  we  insist  that  re- 
quired work  is  required,  if  we  evidently  set  great  store 
by  such  school  habits  as  neatness,  courtesy,  regularity 
in  preparation,  and  punctuality  in  attendance.  But 
worthy  our  highest  endeavor  and  most  consecrated 
tact  is  the  awakening  in  individual  pupils  of  some  pro- 
found ultimate  interest  which  will  seriously  occupy 
their  lives  despite  every  seductive  temptation  to  ease 
or  weighty  cross  to  bear. 

The  Rival          Thus  we  have  suggested  that  in  the  art  of  securing 

inferest°and    attention  it  is  necessary  both  to  arouse  interest  and  to 

Effort.  secure  effort.     These  two  great  dynamic  agencies  have 

fallen  in  so  naturally  with  the  two  essential  forms  of 

attention  that  perhaps  it  did  not  occur  to  us  at  first  that 

really  we  are  treading  on  a  battle-ground,  with  interest 

and  effort  as  the  historic  foes.     Yet  such  is  the  case. 

These  two  are  rivals,  and  it  is  now  incumbent  upon  us 

to  attempt  to  adjudicate  their  claims.1    Several  things 

are  to  be  said  to  give  each  its  due  and  to  remand  each 

back  to  its  proper  place  in  educational  training. 

Old  and  New       The  first  thing  to  be  said  is  that  interest  is  the  strength 

Education. 

of  the  new  education  and  effort  is  the  strength  of  the 
old.  In  the  new  education,  child  study,  the  growth  of 
games  and  play,  the  elective  system,  the  note  of  in- 
dividuality, the  decrease  of  espionage,  and  increase  of 

1  Cf.  Dewey,  "Interest  as  Related  to  Will,"  Herbart  Year  Book, 
1895,  second  supplement. 


Securing  Attention  321 

trust  in  pupils  to  care  for  themselves,  —  all  this  means 
the  presence  of  interest.  In  the  old  education,  study 
of  texts,  long,  hard  hours,  the  repression  of  instincts, 
the  prescribed  system,  the  absence  of  nature  study  and 
history,  the  bare  walls  and  plain  furnishings,  —  all 
this  meant  effort.  The  danger  of  interest  alone  is  a 
consequent  flabbiness  of  character,  it  is  said,  as  the 
danger  of  effort  alone  was  a  certain  narrowness  and 
severity  of  character.  This  contrast  between  the  new 
and  the  old  is  strikingly  set  forth  by  a  defendant  of  the 
old  hi  the  following  language :  "The  whole  new  system 
of  education,  from  a  child's  first  school  to  a  man's  last 
degree,  is  based  on  this  principle,  which  we  may  call 
the  principle  of  the  kindergarten,  —  not  literally,  of 
course,  but  in  general  temper.  You  must  try  to  find 
out  just  what  everybody  likes  best  and  then  help  him 
to  do  it  as  kindly  as  you  can.  .  .  .  The  practical  ami 
of  a  general  education  ...  is  such  training  as  shall 
enable  a  man  to  devote  his  faculties  intently  to  matters 
which  of  themselves  do  not  interest  him.  The  power 
which  enables  a  man  to  do  so  is  obviously  the  power 
of  voluntary,  as  distinguished  from  spontaneous,  atten- 
tion." 1  The  new  education,  whose  strength  is  interest, 
cannot  afford  to  cut  loose  entirely  from  the  strength  of 
the  old,  which  came  through  effort.  Interest  has  come 
to  stay,  but,  in  a  world  where  the  duties  are  often  dis- 
agreeable, effort  must  not  go. 
Second,  we  must  rely  primarily  upon  interest  with  children  and 

.  .,  ,  Adolescents. 

children ;  we  must  be  able  to  rely  upon  effort,  if  neces- 

1  Barrett  Wendell,  "Our  National  Superstition,"  North  American 
Review,  September,  1904. 

Y 


322     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

sary,  with  adolescents.  Involuntary,  immediate,  sen- 
sorial  attention  characterizes  animals,  primitive  men, 
and  children ;  in  addition  thereto,  not  instead  thereof, 
voluntary,  derived,  intellectual  attention  characterizes 
adolescents  and  mature  civilized  minds.  The  divisions 
are  not  sharply  defined,  but  they  exist.  A  child  has  a 
maximum  of  involuntary  and  a  minimum  of  voluntary 
attention;  an  adolescent  may  have  a  maximum  of 
voluntary,  and  a  minimum  of  involuntary  attention. 
The  adolescent  does  not  lose  what  the  child  had,  but 
adds  to  it.  This  means  that  the  elementary  school 
work  must  be  essentially  interesting  in  character  if  the 
attention  of  children  is  to  be  had  at  all ;  this  is  nature's 
doing,  not  ours;  we  must  teach  children  as  we  find 
them,  or  fail;  they  belong  not  so  much  to  themselves 
as  to  the  attractive  stimuli  of  their  environment.  What 
little  and  increasing  voluntary  attention  they  can  give 
should  be  stimulated  as  rapidly  as  it  appears,  while 
our  main  dependence  is  not  upon  this  tender  shoot, 
but  upon  the  sturdy  interests  native  to  the  child's 
nature.  Our  principle  also  requires  us  to  expect  and 
demand  effort  from  secondary  school  pupils  whenever 
effort  is  necessary  for  the  work  in  hand. 
Mutual  Third,  in  the  adjudication  of  the  rival  claims  of  in- 

Services.  . 

terest  and  effort,  we  must  observe  their  reciprocal  ser- 
vices to  each  other.  These  services  may  be  shown  in 
several  ways:  for  example,  a  course  of  study  or  work 
undertaken  with  interest  and  enthusiasm  may  become, 
frequently  does  become,  stale  and  uninviting,  though 
still  recognized  as  important ;  at  this  point  effort  must 
carry  the  course  through  to  its  conclusion.  Many  of 


Securing  Attention  323 

the  philanthropic  and  humanitarian  enterprises  of 
society  have  been  undertaken  in  bursts  of  enthusiasm, 
amid  the  waving  of  banners  and  the  applause  of  men, 
only  in  the  end  either  to  be  deserted  or  to  be  perfected 
through  faithful  and  arduous  labor.  Such  is  the  regu- 
lar history  of  building  funds,  mission  funds,  and  me- 
diaeval and  modern  crusades  of  all  sorts.  Thus  effort 
serves  interest. 

To  take  another  type  of  illustration.  The  true  end 
of  interest  is  not  play,  but  work;  not  amusement,  but 
solid  achievement ;  not  diversion,  but  productive  occu- 
pation. Interest  begins  the  process  which  effort  ends. 
Interest  is  the  path  and  effort  the  destination.  Fortu- 
nate is  he  whose  interest  follows  him  within  the  gates  of 
the  city  of  his  effort  and  takes  up  its  abode  with  him 
there.  Interest  may  be  present  in  the  final  labor  of 
effort,  and  is  so  in  the  finest  results  of  man's  work,  but 
it  is  necessary  that  the  work  be  the  fruitage  of  the 
interest.  The  essential  thing  is  that  the  interest 
lead  somewhere  and  be  not  mere  pastime.  Thus 
interest  is  the  means  to  effort  and  effort  is  the  end  of 
interest. 

Still  another  type  of  illustration  of  the  reciprocity  of 
interest  and  effort.  Many  a  beginning  is  difficult, 
starting  is  hard,  taking  hold  is  delayed,  getting  up 
momentum  is  with  many  a  jump  and  jerk.  Effort  is 
always  necessary  to  start  a  difficult  process.  Once 
going,  the  process  continues  almost  of  its  own  momen- 
tum. The  subject,  so  difficult  at  the  beginning  to  grasp, 
so  novel,  so  unfamiliar  with  all  we  have  known,  as  we 
pursue  it  grows  upon  us,  becomes  easier,  and  develops 


324     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Summary. 


Secondary 
Ways  of 
winning 
Attention. 


Negative 
Aids  to  At- 
tention. 


Asylums  of 
Weakness. 


Mechanical 
Aids. 


interesting  bearings.  To  continue  such  a  study  is  no 
longer  the  effort  it  once  was.  We  began  it  because  we 
had  to;  we  continue  it  because  we  want  to.  Many  a 
man  will  avow  that  the  business  that  engrosses  his  in- 
terest to-day  was  once  thrust  upon  him  through  no 
choice  of  his  own  and  pursued  at  first  with  many 
struggles  and  backward  looks.  The  work  once  hard 
has  become  easy,  once  effortful  has  become  interesting. 
Thus  interest  serves  effort. 

And  so,  in  sum,  the  rival  claims  of  interest  and 
effort  are  to  be  adjusted  not  by  an  "either  ...  or" 
which  excludes  one  of  the  two  parties,  but  by  a  "  both 
.  .  .  and"  which  includes  the  two  parties;  interest  to 
make  us  work,  work  to  make  us  interested. 

Given  both  interest  and  effort,  the  problem  of  atten- 
tion in  the  schoolroom  is  solved,  and  solved  according 
to  the  fundamental  principles  involved.  There  are 
certain  secondary  ways,  however,  of  getting  and  holding 
attention,  whose  utility  we  must  not  fail  to  estimate. 
These  secondary  ways  of  winning  attention  may  be 
either  negative  or  positive  in  character,  and  to  each 
group  we  will  briefly  advert. 

First,  there  are  certain  fairly  effective  but  poor  ways 
of  getting  attention.  For  example,  we  may  beg  it  as 
a  favor,  claim  it  as  a  right,  preach  the  importance  of 
the  subject,  snap  the  fingers,  rap  on  the  desk,  threaten, 
or  promise  rewards.  The  use  of  any  of  these  means 
is  practically  a  confession  of  our  failure  as  teachers. 

Second,  there  are  certain  mechanical  aids  to  attention, 
easily  usable  by  all,  and  helpful  in  themselves.  Such 


Securing  Attention  325 

are,  avoid  any  routine,  however  good ;  introduce  variety ; 
change  the  stereotyped  method  of  asking  questions; 
question  the  inattentive;  stand  after  sitting;  give  all 
something  to  do;  provide  extra  problems  not  in  the 
book;  review;  illustrate;  dramatize  history;  modernize 
arithmetic,  using  current  prices;  in  short,  variety  in 
unity  is  the  secret  of  all  engaging  teaching. 
Third,  the  attention  of  children  is  not  to  be  fatigued.  Avoid 

„„  •  Fatigue 

Where  recitation  penods,  or  periods  between  recesses, 
are  too  long  for  the  attention  to  remain  on  the  qui  vive, 
the  indoor  recess  or  "the  setting  up  drill"  is  to  be 
utilized.  Two  minutes  of  freedom  and  fresh  air  will 
often  save  ten.  That  careful  and  patient  observer  of 
children,  Professor  Baldwin,  writes:  "The  periods  of 
study  had  better  be  too  short  than  too  long ;  for  if  the 
child  grows  tired,  the  effort  becomes  painful  and  the 
subject  distasteful.  Frequent  recesses  should  be  given, 
and  recitations  should  not  be  longer  than  fifteen  to 
twenty  minutes  for  children  under  twelve  to  fourteen 
years  of  age.  The  child's  interest  should  never  be 
allowed  to  flag."  * 

Fourth,  a  single  subject  should  not  engross  attention  and  E^X 

•      i.r          T^.      •  i       .   .          Specializa- 

m  early  life.     Dunng  the  period  of  greatest  plasticity,  tion. 
concentration  upon  a  single  subject  gives  the  mind  a 
bent  in  that  direction,  and  prejudices  it  against  general 
truth.    The  hobbies,  even  the  monomanias,  of  age  may 
sometimes  be  traced  back  to  unbalancing  and  grew- 
some  nursery  stories.     It  is  not  good  for  attention  to 
receive  its  set  too  early  in  life. 
Fifth,  to  prevent  mind- wandering  in  oneself  or  pupils, 

1   Baldwin,  "Senses  and  Intellect,"  p.  78. 


326     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Use  Many 
Senses. 


Positive  Aids 
to  Attention. 


A  Develop- 
ing Lesson. 


A  Good 
Schedule. 


it  may  suffice  to  use  more  senses  at  once.  Supplement 
talk  with  chalk,  pictures,  and  objects;  read  with  the 
mouth  as  well  as  the  eye ;  hear  with  the  lips  as  well  as 
the  ear,  repeating  the  speaker's  words  after  him.  To 
use  many  senses  instead  of  one  is  like  storming  a  citadel 
from  different  directions  at  once.  It  should  be  said, 
however,  that  some  mind-wandering  is  not  preventable, 
that  perfect  concentration  is  not  possible.  A  concen- 
trated attention  is  not  one  which  never  leaves  the  main 
track,  it  is  one  which  does  not  stay  side-tracked. 

Passing  from  these  negative  considerations,  we  may 
note  certain  positive  secondary  ways  of  securing  atten- 
tion. And  first,  the  lesson  we  teach  must  develop 
under  our  handling  during  the  recitation,  and  it  must 
develop  as  rapidly  as  is  consistent  with  the  understand- 
ing of  the  class.  No  halting,  nor  even  marking  time, 
but  a  forward  marching,  as  the  subject  unfolds  itself,  is 
necessary  for  the  attention  to  be  kept.  Attention  is 
more  easily  caught  and  kept  by  a  moving  than  a  station- 
ary sign;  just  so  the  object  of  attention  in  the  class-room 
must  be  continually  changing  and  presenting  new  faces. 

Second,  a  right  arrangement  of  the  schedule  of  work 
facilitates  attention.  The  curve  of  vitality  is  highest  in 
the  first  hours  of  the  morning,  there  is  a  gradual  de- 
cline until  the  lowest  point  is  reached  in  the  first  part 
of  the  afternoon,  when  there  is  a  tendency  upward 
again.  The  work  requiring  closest  attention  should 
come  during  the  freshest  hours,  and  the  work  permitting 
rather  dispersed  attention,  especially  work  with  move- 
ment of  any  kind  in  it,  may  profitably  come  in  the  early 
afternoon. 


Securing  Attention  327 

Third,    introduce   attention   exercises,    providing   a  Attention 

t     •         i  .  f      i  ,        i        r>      i      Exercises. 

place  for  such  in  the  regimen  of  the  school.  Such 
exercises  may  be  illustrated  in  this  way,  viz.  read  a 
story  aloud  and  ask  for  an  abstract  of  it ;  read  a  stanza 
of  a  poem  and  ask  that  it  be  repeated ;  read  a  long  sen- 
tence and  ask  for  the  number  of  words  it  contains; 
give  a  long  easy  example  in  mental  arithmetic;  have 
as  much  multiplying  done  as  possible  in  two  minutes; 
take  a  long  word  and  let  each  pupil  name  one  letter; 
walk  by  a  store  window  and  make  a  list  of  its  contents ; 
in  three  minutes  write  out  all  the  characteristics  of  an 
object;  and  so  on.  Such  exercises  will  probably  not 
develop  a  power  of  attention  equally  applicable  to  other 
and  dissimilar  subjects ;  they  will  probably  give  increased 
power  of  attention  in  similar  subjects,  and  most  impor- 
tant of  all,  they  acquaint  pupils  by  experience  with  what 
attention  really  is,  leading  them  to  feel  and  appreciate 
the  value  of  attention,  and  so  perchance  giving  them 
the  idea  that  the  way  to  work  mentally  is  with  a  con- 
centrated attention.  Thus  attention  may  not  become 
a  general  habit  equally  applicable  to  all  subjects  alike, 
but,  what  is  better,  it  may  be  adopted  as  a  conscious 
principle  of  mental  work.1 

Fourth,  teachers  who  would  have  attentive  classes  vitality  in 

Teacher 

need  to  be  possessed  with  physical  vitality.  The  teacher 
must  be  much  alive  who  would  have  a  wide-awake  class. 
His  room  must  be  filled  with  his  presence  as  an  atmos- 
phere charged  with  electricity.  Given  this  condition, 
he  controls  the  attention  with  a  look,  with  a  question, 

1  Cf.  F.  C.  Lewis,  "A  Study  in  Formal  Discipline,"  School  Review, 
April,  1905. 


328     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

with  a  story,  with  a  bit  of  humour,  with  whatsoever  the 
occasion  happens  to  demand. 

and  Fifth,  the  teacher  who  lacks  attention  from  his  class 

needs  to  love  his  subject  more.  Enthusiasm  concerning 
any  matter  is  a  contagion.  He  who,  forgetting  all  else, 
throws  himself  mentally  and  physically  into  the  work 
of  teaching  his  subject  because  he  loves  it,  believes  in 
it,  and  wants  others  to  know  it  and  be  benefited  by  it, 
will  carry  away  the  attention  of  his  pupils  as  with  a 
flood.  Cultivate  your  own  interest  in  your  subject  by 
finding  out  something  more  about  it.  The  astronomer 
like  Professor  Young  makes  us  want  to  be  astronomers 
when  under  the  spell  of  his  influence,  an  historian  like 
Professor  Hart  makes  us  want  to  be  historians,  and 
Socrates  would  have  certainly  made  us  philosophers. 
Given  the  good  teacher,  the  problem  of  attention 
vanishes,  like  the  mist  before  the  sun.  Thus,  when  the 
last  word  is  said,  attention  is  not  so  much  a  condition 
of  good  teaching  as  its  result. 

Summary  of       Thus  we  have  passed  in  review  the  development  and 

Moral 

Education,  training  of  the  will.  Fit  occupation  this  for  honest 
souls,  brave  hearts,  and  strong  minds.  We  have  seen 
the  complexity  and  the  stretch  of  will  from  lowest 
reflex  action  to  highest  voluntary  attention;  the  im- 
portance of  knowing  and  directing  the  instincts  of 
pupils;  the  necessity  of  strengthening  right  impulses 
and  inhibiting  wrong  ones;  the  way  to  check  the 
overimpulsive  and  forward  the  underimpulsive  child; 
the  kinds  of  models  that  children  imitate  and  refuse; 
the  effective  way  to  give  a  suggestion  and  the  detrimental 


Securing  Attention  329 

suggestions  in  home  and  school  from  which  our  pupils 
are  suffering;  the  determining  influences  of  habits  in 
life;  the  two  essentials  in  the  direct  education  of  the 
will;  and  the  creative  words,  interest  and  effort,  in 
securing  attention. 

But  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the  training  of  the  will 
is  no  easy  matter.  We  must  bungle  and  botch  many 
more  children  fresh  from  the  lap  of  nature  in  the  very 
vitals  of  character,  and  pray  God's  forgiveness,  before 
the  home  and  the  school  can  develop  manhood  aright. 
But  here,  as  everywhere,  study,  trial,  error,  will  bring 
us  slowly  toward  success.  Meanwhile,  the  sum  of  it 
all  is,  we  truly  educate  the  will  when,  by  any  or  all  of 
these  ways,  to  immaturer  selves  than  our  own  we  freely 
give  ourselves,  who  are  Christ's,  who  is  God's. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Nature  of  Attention. 

2.  The  Kinds  of  Attention. 

3.  The  Effects  of  Attention. 

4.  The  Physiological  Explanation  of  Effort 

5.  Attention  and  Will. 

REFERENCES  ON  ATTENTION 

Adams,  Herbartian  Psychology  Applied  to  Education,  ch.  X. 

Aiken,  Methods  of  Mind  Training,  ch.  III. 

Baldwin,  Methods  and  Processes,  ch.  XV. 

Calkins,  Introduction  to  Psychology,  ch.  XI. 

Fitch,  The  Art  of  Securing  Attention. 

Hughes,  Securing  and  Retaining  Attention. 

James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  ch.  XL 

Royce,  Outlines  of  Psychology,  pp.  64-70,  258-264. 

Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology,  ch.  VIII. 

Titchener,  Primer  of  Psychology,  ch.  V. 


PART   V 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION,    OR    EDUCATING   THE 
SPIRIT   IN   MAN 


INTRODUCTION 

AT  this  point  we  begin  the  discussion  of  religious  Meaning  of 

Spirit  and 

education.  Too  frequently  religious  education  has  Religious 
been  regarded  as  a  thing  apart,  as  a  certain  kind  of  } 
education  distinct  from  all  others,  or  as  the  education 
of  a  certain  section  of  the  human  nature  distinct  from 
other  sections.  Of  course,  this  view  of  religious  educa- 
tion belongs  logically  with  a  certain  view  of  religion; 
namely,  as  something  apart  from  the  ordinary  and 
usual  life  and  interests  of  man,  or  as  something  dealing 
with  a  distinct  element  in  his  nature,  or  as  something 
foreign  that  has  to  be  grafted  into  his  unreligious 
nature.  The  inclusion  of  the  discussion  of  religious 
education  in  a  book  of  this  kind  is  intended  as  a  protest 
against  all  this  way  of  regarding  religious  education  and 
religion.  Rather  is  religious  education  the  natural  and 
logical  conclusion  of  all  education,  just  as  religion  is 
the  natural  and  complete  expression  of  man's  being. 
And  the  spirit  whose  education  we  now  undertake  is 
not  a  mysterious  and  inaccessible  entity  within  us,  nor 
a  part  even  of  our  accessible  being,  nor  least  of  all  a 
foreign  element  .introduced  into  man  by  religion;  it 
is  simply  and  clearly  the  whole  consciousness  in  its 
relation  to  deity.  The  education  whose  procedure  we 
have  so  far  been  following  has  dealt  with  certain  ele- 
ments in  the  spirit  of  man ;  the  education  whose  nature 
we  now  begin  to  consider  unites  these  elements  in  the 

333 


334     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

conscious  spirit  of  man  and  directs  that  spirit  to  its 
home  in  God.  By  the  spirit  we  mean,  then,  mind  in 
relation  to  deity,  and  by  educating  the  spirit,  or  religious 
education,  we  mean  bringing  man  in  his  integrity  into 
right  relationship  with  God. 

Order  of  jn  conformity  with  and  in  justification  of  this  con- 

Discussion.  .,-..,  . 

ception  of  educating  the  spirit  there  are  certain  princi- 
ples which  guide  us,  whose  statement  must  come  at 
the  beginning  of  our  discussion.  Then,  still  following 
here,  as  in  the  preceding  parts  of  the  book,  the  lines 
marked  out  by  modern  psychology,  we  must  consider 
the  development  and  training  of  the  religious  nature. 
Next  will  come  the  trio  of  the  great  and  mutual  agen- 
cies that  serve  the  interests  of  religious  education,  viz. 
the  home,  the  school,  and  the  church.  The  general 
negative  tone  running  through  the  discussion  of  the 
school  will  be  relieved  by  a  parallel  positive  tone  and 
especially  by  the  discussions  of  home  and  church  on 
either  side  of  the  school.  Finally,  though  the  curric- 
ulum of  religious  education  is  vast  and  wandering,  it 
will  always  have  one  central  text,  with  whose  con- 
sideration we  conclude.  Turn  we  then  to  these  dis- 
cussions as  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  uncompleted 
educational  processes  hitherto  considered. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE   PRINCIPLES   OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

WE  come  then  to  a  statement  of  the  principles  of 
religious  education. 

In  the  first  place,  all  truth  is  really  God's  truth.    We  A11  Truth  is 

Jm  God's  Truth. 

feel  this  must  be  so  when  once  we  seriously  face  the  ques- 
tion whether  truth  be  a  unity  and  so  self -consistent,  and 
so  really  the  thought  of  God  concerning  reality.  The 
truth  which  jesting  Pilate  sought  was  enfleshed  before 
him,  namely,  God's  thought  of  a  man.  The  truth 
which  the  scientist  seeks  is  embodied  before  him, 
namely,  God's  thought  of  a  world.  In  man,  in  nature, 
the  truth  is  the  thought  of  God.  This  of  course  means 
utter  justification  for  the  common  feeling  that  any  least 
shred  of  truth  found  anywhere,  in  remotest  star,  in  the 
solid  earth,  in  a  stirring  emotion,  or  in  a  quieting 
thought,  is  sacred,  having  somewhat  of  divinity  about 
it. 

But  truth  is  the  ideal  of  the  intellect,  it  is  the  object  The  Nature 

t  j    ^i.  •   i  e   ^  c   A      ..u      of  Truth  and 

of  science;  and  the  quickening  of  the  sense  of  truth,  intellectual 
we  saw,  is  the  very  aim  of  intellectual  education.  But 
if  all  truth  is  God's  truth,  then  intellectual  education 
ought  to  bring  man  to  God  as  the  source  of  truth,  and 
itself  becomes  one  of  the  indispensable  agencies  of 
religious  education.  It  is  gloriously  possible  for  man 
to  love  God  with  his  mind. 

335 


336     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Religion  and  This  principle  forbids  religious  education  to  coun- 
tenance the  unwarranted  distinction  between  scientific 
truth  and  religious  truth.  Truth  is  truth  wherever 
found.  It  is  the  business  of  science  to  find  the  truth; 
it  is  the  business  of  religion  to  claim  that  truth  for  God. 
That  which  science  discovers  it  is  the  business  of 
religion  to  appropriate.  It  is  never  the  business  of 
religion  to  deny  scientific  truth,  to  do  so  makes  it 
ridiculous;  it  is  never  the  business  of  science  to  deny 
that  the  truth  is  God's,  to  do  so  makes  it  arrogant. 
Religious  education  appropriates  intellectual  educa- 
tion as  its  indispensable  agent  in  bringing  the  intellect 
of  man  to  God.  And  the  teacher  of  the  intellect  is  to 
handle  the  truth  as  the  word  of  God ;  to  do  so  is  to  be 
a  religious  teacher.  Like  Kepler,  he  must  feel  that  a 
scientific  discovery  is  a  rethinking  of  the  thought  of 
God. 

AH  Beauty  Second,  all  beauty  is  really  a  manifestation  of  the 
Beauty3  perfection  of  God.  He  who  dwells  with  joy  on  certain 
beautiful  or  sublime  scenes  of  nature,  when  all  her 
torches  are  aflame,  when  on  every  side  is  a  burning 
bush,  when  a  pillar  of  cloud  is  a  shekinah  for  his 
pilgrim  spirit,  feels  it  must  be  true  that  the  course  of 
nature  is  the  art  of  God.  And  also  when  in  sight  or 
hearing  of  what  artist  souls  have  first  imaginatively 
created  and  then  sensibly  expressed  on  canvas,  in 
marble,  or  in  tones,  it  is  easy  to  ascribe  to  them,  not  in 
fancy,  but  in  fact,  the  divinus  afflatus.  The  soul  gifted 
with  a  passion  for  the  perfect  and  with  a  capacity  for 
its  expression  entertains  visions  of  the  eternal.  That 


The  Principles  of  Religious  Education     337 

beauty  which  haunts  us  when  we  have  it  not,  and 
satisfies  us,  the  only  thing  that  does  satisfy  us,  when 
we  have  it,  is  of  a  piece  with  divinity  or  divinity  is 
unexperienced  by  man.  Plato  is  voicing  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  artists  of  every  age  in  his  half-true 
myth:  "But  of  beauty,  I  repeat  again  that  we  saw 
her  there  shining  in  company  with  the  celestial  forms ; 
and  coming  to  earth  we  find  her  here  too,  shining  in 
clearness  through  the  clearest  aperture  of  sense."  1 

But  beauty  is  the  highest  object  of  the  emotional  ™e  Nature 

,  ,       ,  ,    of  Beauty 

experience  of  man,  and  to  quicken  the  human  sense  of  and  ^Esthetic 
beauty  is,  we  saw,  the  very  aim  of  aesthetic  education.  Education- 
But  if  all  beauty  is  God's  beauty,  the  conclusion  of 
aesthetic  education  is  religious.  In  bringing  pupils  into 
an  appreciation  of  beauty,  we  are  really  bringing  them 
into  acquaintanceship  with  the  perfection  of  God  as 
revealed  in  the  works  both  of  nature  and  of  man.  And 
the  teacher  of  art  who  treats  beauty  as  a  divine  com- 
munication is  a  religious  teacher,  and  the  aesthetic 
education  he  is  achieving  is  at  the  same  time,  pari 
passu,  one  of  the  elements  of  religious  education. 

This  principle  forbids  us  as  religious  teachers  to  Religion  and 
countenance  any  ultimate  distinction  between  art  and 
religion.  The  impersonal  beauty  which  art  incor- 
porates and  enjoys  is  one  of  the  qualities  of  the  Person 
whom  religion  worships.  Religious  education  will  not 
alienate  art  from  its  endeavors  to  bring  man  into  rela- 
tionship with  God,  but  will  include  art  as  one  of  the 
indispensable  means  of  reaching  Him  who  is  invisible 
through  the  things  that  do  appear.  As  the  scientist 

1  "  Phasdrus,"  250  D,  Jowett  Tr. 
z 


338     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

has  seen  the  truth,  so  the  artist  has  sensed  the  perfect, 
and  the  word  is  nigh  them,  even  in  their  retort  and  in 
their  brush. 

AH  Goodness      Third  in  the  list  of  these  fundamentals  of  religious 

is  God's  . 

Goodness.  education  is  the  principle  that  all  goodness  is  the 
goodness  of  God.  There  is  none  good  but  One,  and 
whosoever  is  good  upon  the  earth  shares  the  goodness 
of  the  One.  To  recognize  in  any  man  a  good  character 
is  to  recognize  something  of  the  divine  in  him,  and  any 
man  who  finds  it  in  his  heart  to  will  the  good  can  say 
truly,  thus  far,  "  I  and  my  Father  are  one."  To  will 
the  good  is  to  identify  man's  will  with  God's  will;  to 
will  the  evil  is  to  oppose  man's  will  to  God's  will.  The 
evil  that  men  have  is  their  own,  their  goodness  is  God's ; 
their  goodness  is  their  own  only  in  the  sense  that  they 
have  appropriated  so  much  of  the  divine  will.  If 
man's  goodness  were  all  his  own,  and  not  God's,  it 
would  be  possible  for  man  to  increase  the  amount  of 
goodness  in  reality,  and  so  to  be  a  profitable  servant 
unto  God.  But  such  a  conception  is  untrue  to  the 
spiritual  intuitions  of  the  best  souls  who  ascribe  all 
the  praise  for  what  they  are  and  do,  not  to  themselves, 
but  to  God.  To  say  that  some  goodness  is  not  the 
goodness  of  God  is  to  deprive  God  of  that  absoluteness 
which  characterizes  deity  and  to  reduce  His  goodness 
thereby  to  a  finite  quantity.  Thus  deep  intuition  and 
pure  reason  alike  unite  in  affirming  that  all  goodness 
is  God's  goodness. 

But  to  quicken  the  sense  of  goodness  in  man,  to  give 
him  both  an  intellectual  discernment  of  right  and  a 


The  Principles  of  Religious  Education     339 
responsive  disposition  to  pursue  it,  is.  we  saw,  the  very  T116  Nature 

,        *     of  Goodness 

end  of  moral  education.     Therefore  a  religious  educa-  and  Moral 
tion,  seeking  to  bring  man  into  a  conscious  relationship  Educatlon- 
with  God,  must  include  within  itself  moral  education 
as  one  of  its  essential  elements.    To  make  men  good 
is  so  far  forth  to  make  them  divine ;  to  love  goodness  is 
to  love  a  chosen  way  in  which  God  manifests  Himself 
to  men.     Goodness,  the  ideal  of  moral  education  and 
of  all  man's  best  endeavor,  is  really  the  revelation  in 
the  finite  of  the  will  of  God. 
This  means  that   we  as   religious  educators  must  Religion  and 

Morality. 

esteem  more  highly  him  whom  we  sometimes  stigmatize 
as  the  moral  man,  that  we  must  discontinue  to  coun- 
tenance any  ultimate  distinction  between  religion  and 
morality.  Religion  is  the  whole  of  which  morality  is 
one  of  the  parts,  and  he  who  possesses  this  part  is  not 
far  from  the  kingdom  of  religion.  Him  whose  will 
the  moral  man  ignorantly  performs  we  must  declare. 
Pursue  morality  to  the  end  and  find  God ;  or,  as  Kant 
expresses  it,  religion  is  the  recognition  of  the  moral 
laws  as  the  commands  of  God.  In  addition  to  this 
view  of  Kant,  we  have  attempted  also  to  indicate  that 
religion  is  the  recognition  of  the  beautiful  as  the  feeling 
of  God,  and  of  the  true  as  the  thought  of  God.  Upon 
every  preceding  educational  ideal  of  man  religious 
education  writes,  Holy  unto  the  Lord.  It  comes  not 
to  destroy  science,  art,  and  morality,  but  to  fulfil  them. 

Fourth,  we  are  now  brought  to  a  definition  of  our  The  C°"CT 

tion  of  God. 

conception  of  God  as  the  ideal  of  religious  education. 
Just  as  religious  education  is  the  inclusive  culmination 


34°     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

of  intellectual,  emotional,  and  volitional  education,  so 
we  think  of  God  definitely  as  the  self-conscious  unity 
of  truth,  beauty,  and  goodness.  It  is  transcendently 
true  that  we  do  not  completely  know  God,  that  our 
ignorance  is  all  but  total ;  however,  it  is  gloriously  true 
that  we  do  partially  know  God  in  so  far  as  in  either 
others  or  ourselves  or  nature  we  find  an  iota  of 
truth,  but  the  tattered  garment  of  beauty,  or  an  un- 
finished deed  of  goodness.  God  is  the  absolute  Person 
whose  thought  is  true,  whose  feeling  is  beautiful,  whose 
will  is  good.  He  is  not  an  abstract  inaccessible  being, 
nor  a  supernatural  anthropomorphic  being,  but  the 
inclusive  personality  in  whose  life  all  natural  and  human 
processes  occur.  The  true  immanence  is  not  of  God 
in  us,  but  of  us  in  God.  Only  so  can  religion  shed  the 
glow  of  the  eternal  upon  every  valuable  human  thing, 
only  so  can  religious  education  infuse  a  saving  spirit 
into  all  education,  only  so  can  our  conceptions  some- 
what cease  to  belittle  both  the  greatness  and  the  nearness 
of  God.  To  deny  that  God  is  the  self-conscious  unity 
of  truth,  beauty,  and  goodness  is  fraught  with  fell 
consequences  for  religious  education,  —  it  removes  any 
psychological  basis  for  it,  it  removes  all  the  means  at 
our  disposition  for  attaining  it,  and  it  removes  God 
from  all  human  experience. 

nic  Nature        As  intellectual  education  seeks  the  knowledge  of  the 

ot  Religion.  .  «.«•«. 

truth,  as  emotional  education  seeks  the  feeling  of 
beauty,  as  moral  education  seeks  the  volition  of  the 
good,  so  religious  education  seeks  acquaintanceship 
with  God.  And  God  we  now  see  to  be  the  conscious- 


The  Principles  of  Religious  Education     341 

ness  in  which  all  human  ideals  are  real.  These  con- 
ceptions enable  us  to  take  the  next  step  and  attempt 
to  state  the  nature  of  religion.  Fifth,  then,  as  de- 
manded by  the  preceding  conceptions  and  as  evi- 
denced by  observation  of  its  phenomena  anywhere,  we 
may  say,  religion  is  the  response  of  man  as  a  unit 
to  divinity.  The  unit  man  includes  his  thinking, 
his  feeling,  and  his  acting.  Man's  religion  is  his 
thought  about  God,  his  feeling  toward  God,  and  his 
conduct  in  relationship  to  God.  Man's  thought  about 
God  is  responsible  for  mythologies,  cosmologies,  faith, 
doctrine,  creed,  belief,  etc. ;  his  feeling  toward  God  is 
responsible  for  his  experiences  of  fear,  awe,  dependence, 
reverence,  trust,  humility,  love,  etc. ;  and  his  conduct  in 
relationship  to  God  is  responsible  for  his  ritual,  cere- 
monies, sacrifices,  and  such  action  as  his  religion 
sanctions.  Thus  religion  is  not  reducible  to  one  of 
the  elements  of  human  nature  as  its  basis,  but  writes 
itself  large  upon  human  life  in  its  integrity.  The 
psychologist  finds  no  religious  section  in  human  nature, 
—  religion  is  the  whole  human  nature  divinely  related. 
From  no  hidden  recess  in  the  human  constitution  is 
God  excluded,  from  no  phase  of  human  experience  is 
God  eliminable,  in  no  remote  part  of  man's  environ- 
ment, whether  the  cleft  of  the  rock,  the  terebinth  tree, 
the  oaks  of  Mamre,  the  monitorial  stars  by  night,  — 
nowhere  is  it  impossible  to  find  Him  who  is  All  in  All. 
This  is  not  a  vague  pantheism,  but  the  concretest 
theism;  God  is  not  an  impersonal  universal  essence, 
but  a  personal  individual  consciousness,  and  religion 
is  man's  experience  of  God. 


The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


A11  Sixth,  the  principle  follows  almost  as  a  matter  of 

Education  is  ,.    . 

ultimately  course  that  all  education  is  ultimately  religious  in 
Religious.  character,  that  is,  the  ultimate  object  which  it  seeks 
and  with  which  it  deals  is  God.  All  the  subjects  in  the 
curriculum  have  their  ultimate  origin  and  foundation 
in  the  character  of  God.  The  permanence  of  His 
thought  makes  it  possible  for  a  scientific  knowledge 
of  nature  and  man  to  be  attained;  His  love  for  the 
perfect  makes  it  possible  for  visions  of  beauty  to  flit 
across  the  face  of  nature  and  haunt  the  minds  of  men ; 
the  goodness  of  His  will  makes  it  possible  for  a  nature 
and  a  history  to  evolve  in  time  toward  some  better 
thing  to  come.  Our  difficulty  is  that  we  as  teachers 
do  not  always  recognize  our  educational  endeavors  as 
finally  religious  in  character,  and  that  we  teach  our 
subjects  most  truly  when  we  teach  them  as  divine 
revelations  to  men,  and  fervently,  as  unto  the  Lord. 


All  Religion 
should  be 
Educational, 


Seventh,  because  religion  includes  the  intellectual 
element  in  man,  all  religion  should  be  educational  in 
character.  Religion  has  a  truth  to  teach,  a  message 
to  deliver,  and  intellects  to  train  and  possess.  To 
omit  instruction  in  the  church  is  to  invite  both  emotion- 
alism and  disbelief:  emotionalism  which  follows  the 
lead  of  whatsoever  chance  ideas  may  be  present,  and 
disbelief  through  lack  of  any  credible  system  of  thought. 
In  addition  to  inciting  to  good  deeds  and  satisfying  the 
heart,  the  church  and  the  ministry  must  give  definite 
instruction  in  righteousness.  It  is  equally  true  that,  in 
order  to  reach  the  whole  man,  religion  must  be  other 
than  educational;  but  it  must  be  educational  too,  and 


The  Principles  of  Religious  Education     343 

this  brings  us  to  the  question,  What  is  religious  educa- 
tion? 


Eighth,  the  great  abiding  aim  of  religious  education  The  Nature 
is  the  normal  development  of  the  religious  nature.  Education"8 
Man  is  by  nature  as  truly  religious  as  he  is  intellectual, 
or  emotional,  or  volitional,  or  social.  There  is  too, 
naturally,  a  religion  of  the  child.  As  the  early  Chris- 
tian fathers  were  accustomed  to  say,  anima  naturaliter 
Christiana.  Religion  is  thus  not  an  artificial  graft  into 
human  nature,  it  is  the  natural  blossoming  of  human 
nature.  Our  problem  is,  thanks  to  the  gospel  message 
concerning  babes,  sucklings,  and  children,  not  to 
change  a  birthright  of  irreligion  or  unreligion,  but  to 
quicken  in  children  their  birthright  of  religion.  A 
leader  of  the  Jews,  like  Nicodemus,  an  adult  who  is 
unacquainted  with  the  ways  of  God,  needs  to  be  born 
again,  that  is,  to  be  born  from  above;  he  needs  to  be 
converted  and  become  as  little  children,  for  of  such  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  little  children  are  already 
members  of  the  kingdom,  they  need  no  miracle  of 
grace  to  make  them  so,  they  are  already  converted  to 
God.  Our  only  problem,  and  great  enough  it  is,  is  to 
see  that  children  are  not  converted  away  from  God.  It 
is  the  gospel  message;  were  it  otherwise  I  should  not 
have  the  faith  and  the  courage  to  utter  it.  The  gospel 
sets  a  little  child,  not  one  selected  with  care  from  the 
company  of  Jewish  children  by  the  roadside,  but  any 
little  child,  in  the  midst  of  the  adult  followers  of  Jesus 
as  the  object  of  their  imitation.  This  is  not  to  say 
that  our  children  are  now  past  our  assistance  and  need 


344     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

nothing  from  us;  it  only  means  that  what  they  need 
from  us  is  right  development.  Nor  is  this  to  say  that 
when  children  become  adolescents  they  are  not  to 
know  confirmation  and  conversion;  it  is  only  to  say 
that  confirmation  and  conversion  should  follow  in  the 
child's  life  as  the  fruit  follows  the  blossom.  Convex 
sion  should  not  be  a  catastrophe,  but  as  the  falling  of 
ripe  fruit.  The  religious  nature  inborn  in  children 
needs  only  to  grow,  and  the  growth  that  is  natural 
and  vital  is  very  gradual  during  the  years  preced- 
ing adolescence.  As  Dr.  Haslett  has  shown :  — 

"The  ideal  method  is  for  the  child  to  grow  and 
develop  through  proper  environment  and  instruction 
and  training  into  a  religious  experience  and  life  more 
and  more  advanced  with  the  years  and  for  the  most 
part  unconscious,  and  then  when  the  golden  time 
arrives,  as  arrive  it  will,  naturally  from  about  twelve 
to  eighteen,  there  will  be  a  normal  tendency  to  manifest 
the  religious  change  known  as  conversion  publicly  and 
in  some  more  tangible  and  lasting  form,  and  when  sober 
judgment  and  reason  may  give  meaning  to  the  ex- 
perience." 

In  harmony  with  the  Christian  views  of  child  life, 
religious  education  is  thus  a  certain  growth  of  the  whole 
life,  its  growth  Godward.  Religious  education  is  not 
the  safe  passing  of  an  adolescent  crisis ;  it  is  a  present 
process.  As  intellectual  education  develops  the  sense 
of  truth,  as  aesthetic  education  develops  the  sense  of 
beauty,  as  moral  education  develops  the  sense  of  good- 
ness, so  religious  education  develops  the  sense  of  God. 

1  Haslett,  "Pedagogical  Bible  School,"  p.  132. 


The  Principles  of  Religious  Education     345 

Religious  education  is  the  enlargement  of  man's  ex- 
perience of  God.  It  includes  correct  teaching  about 
God,  cultivating  right  feelings  toward  God,  and  securing 
right  conduct  as  in  the  presence  of  God. 

Ninth,  the  correct  order  in  educating  religiously  is  Action 
first  the  action  and  feeling,  and  then  the  idea  and          66 


thought.  The  child  is  primarily  a  doer,  not  a  thinker;  Thought 
he  abides  in  the  region  of  the  concrete,  not  the  ab- 
stract. Children  can  do  right,  and  so  feel  rightly, 
before  they  can  think  rightly.  It  is  through  obedience 
to  the  commands  of  God,  and  feeling  our  dependence 
upon  God,  that  children  finally  come  to  think  rightly 
about  God.  The  same  principle  also  holds  with  adults  ; 
whosoever  is  willing  to  do  the  will  of  God  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine.  Definite,  practical  righteous  action 
will  clarify  the  murky,  doubting  atmosphere  of  thought  ; 
the  worker  has  faith,  the  indolent  doubts.  The  trouble 
at  this  point  is  that  in  religious  education,  as  in  all  types 
of  education,  we  have  begun  with  children  on  the 
intellectual,  abstract,  passive  side  of  life  rather  than 
on  the  practical,  concrete,  and  active  side.  In  em- 
phasizing right  thoughts  about  God  in  our  religious 
teaching,  we  have  neglected  the  weightier  matters  of 
right  feelings  toward  God  and  right  action  in  deference 
to  His  will.  The  cup  of  cold  water,  the  pouring 
into  wounds  of  oil  and  wine,  and  visiting  the  sick 
are  more  important  for  children,  and  men  too,  than 
answering  such  questions  as,  Who  is  my  neighbor? 
Who  shall  be  greatest  in  the  kingdom  ?  or,  Whose  wife 
shall  she  be  ?  Understand  me,  to  think  correctly  about 


346     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

the  ways  of  God  is  not  a  negligible  value,  but  is  best 
securable  through  prior  feeling  and  action.  What  the 
Sunday-school  teacher  is  able  to  get  his  pupils  to  do 
during  the  week  to  come  is  more  important  than 
what  he  is  able  to  get  them  to  think  this  Sabbath 
morning. 

The  Word  Tenth,  the  problem  of  religious  education  must  be 
made  Flesh,  solved  by  persons.  Only  when  parents  and  teachers 
with  developed  religious  natures  share  a  common  life 
with  children  of  undeveloped  religious  natures  can 
there  be  the  quickening  and  the  growth  of  the  religious 
life.  The  lower  cannot  lift  itself  of  itself  into  the  higher ; 
the  higher  must  be  both  the  impulse  behind  and  the 
attraction  beyond  the  lower.  If  the  adults  with  whom 
the  children  associate  are  not  religious,  the  children 
cannot  become  so;  just  as  if  there  were  no  divine  life 
within  and  without  human  life,  man  could  not  have 
become  the  essentially  religious  being  he  is.  The  solu- 
tion of  religious  questions  is  vague  in  terms  of  ideas, 
it  is  concrete  in  terms  of  some  religious  person's  life. 
The  interpretation  of  the  religious  life  must  come  from 
a  religious  life.  Every  religious  teacher  is  thus  an 
incarnation  to  his  pupils,  as  when  the  missionary  faces 
a  primitive  people  without  words  for  the  ideas  of  his 
gospel,  he  must  be  his  gospel.  In  every  true  religious 
teacher  the  word  again  becomes  flesh,  and  of  him  any 
one  of  his  pupils  may  say:  — 

"  AH  familiar  things  he  touched, 
All  common  words  he  spoke,  became  to  me 
Like  forms  and  signs  of  a  diviner  world." 


The  Principles  of  Religious  Education     347 
Eleventh,  we  have  been  thinking  of  the  beginnings  Religi°us 

Education 

of  the  religious  education  of  man;  it  is  time  to  think  never  ends. 
of  its  conclusion;  but  here  all  time  seems  to  open  up 
before  us,  and  we  are  able  to  set  no  limits  to  religious 
education.  Rather,  the  infinite  Word,  God,  is  its 
limit.  Religious  education  is  like  the  mathematical 
case  of  a  finite  progression  toward  an  infinite  limit, 
always  enlarging  and  approaching,  but  never  there. 
Before  self-consciousness  children  are  subject  to 
intangible  religious  influences  from  the  nourishing 
environment  of  the  home ;  after  self-consciousness,  the 
progress  through  boyhood  and  girlhood,  through  youth 
and  adolescence,  through  maturity  and  advancing  age, 
is  all  one  journey  toward  God,  our  goal.  Religion  is 
man's  experience  of  God;  the  widening  of  man's 
experience  of  God  seems  as  boundless  as  the  capacity 
of  man  and  as  endless  as  the  swift  flight  of  years. 
Since  God  is  our  chosen  haven  and  the  infinite  stream 
of  time  is  the  path  of  our  voyage,  religious  education 
can  never  end. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Dualism  and  Monism  as  Philosophies. 

2.  Idealistic  Theism  as  an  Acceptable  Philosophy. 

3.  The  Kingdom  of  Nature  and  Grace. 

4.  The  Causes  of  Separation  of  Religion  and  Life. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Butler  (and  others),  Principles  of  Religious  Education. 
Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  chs.  II,  III,  and  IV. 
Coe  and  Starbuck,  Religious  Education  as  a    Part  of   General 
Education,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1903,  pp.  44-59. 


348     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Coulter,  Science  as  a  Teacher  of  Morality,  Proc.  R.  E.  A., 
1905,  pp.  40-46. 

Mathews,  A  Scientific  Basis  for  Religious  and  Moral  Education 
from  the  Standpoint  of  Theology,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1904,  pp. 
115-119. 

McDowell,  The  Direct  Influence  of  God  upon  One's  Life,  Proc. 
R.  E.  A.,  1905,  pp.  20-24. 

Reeder,  The  Psychological  and  Pedagogical  Principles  of  Re- 
ligious Teaching,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1904,  pp.  340-344. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

THE   DEVELOPMENT   AND   TRAINING   OF  THE   RELIGIOUS 
NATURE 

IN  this  discussion  we  must  attempt  to  describe  the  Aim  of  this 

r  ,  Discussion. 

religion  of  the  developing  individual  in  his  different 
stages  and  to  suggest  corresponding  ways  of  training. 
The  religion  of  the  child  and  youth  will  naturally 
concern  us  most,  for  with  the  religion  of  maturity  and 
the  ways  of  cultivating  mature  religious  interests  we 
are  more  familiar,  though  not  sufficiently  so.1  The 
child,  the  youth,  the  man,  are  large  and  convenient 
designations  of  epochs  hi  religious  development. 

Looking  at  our  subject  in  the  large,  there  are  certain  General 
guiding  thoughts  that  may  be  profitably  stated  at  the  Principles  of 
very  beginning.  Childhood  is  essentially  the  period  of 
muscular  activity;  so  with  the  child  the  essential 
thing  is  to  secure  the  performance  of  religious  deeds. 
Youth  is  essentially  the  period  of  independent  thinking ; 
so  with  the  youth  the  essential  thing  is  to  secure  an 
independent  and  personal  religious  experience  and  out- 
look on  life.  This  is  not  apart  from,  but  in  addition 
to,  the  religious  deeds  of  childhood.  Manhood  is 
essentially  the  period  of  large  achievement;  so  with 
the  man  the  essential  thing  is  to  secure  a  consecrated 
social  service.  This  too  is  something  not  apart  from, 

1  Cf.  Coe,  "The  Religion  of  a  Mature  Mind." 
349 


this  Discus- 
sion. 


350     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

but  in  addition  to,  the  religious  deeds  of  childhood  and 
the  personal  religious  experience  of  youth.  And  the 
guiding  thought  under  all  is  that  this  process  of  religious 
development  is  a  unity  from  the  beginning  to  —  there 
is  no  ending.  It  is  hard  to  make  a  religious  youth  out 
of  a  child  untrained  religiously ;  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  make  a  religious  man  out  of  a  youth  and  child  un- 
trained religiously.  It  is  easy  for  a  child  religiously 
trained  to  become  a  religious  youth;  it  is  almost  as 
easy  for  the  religious  youth  to  pass  on  into  religious 
maturity.  This  progress  all  depends  on  the  nature 
and  efficiency  of  the  religious  and  educational  environ- 
ment. We  must  consider  more  in  detail  the  nature  of 
the  religious  needs  and  of  the  right  religious  training 
in  each  stage  of  development. 

Religious  The  practice  of  many  people  and  the  theory  of  some 

laissez  faire.      .,  ,  T    •  ri-ii  i      •  »        i 

is  that  the  religious  nature  of  children  needs  simply 
to  be  let  alone.  Indifference  to  the  higher  life  is  the 
usual  cause  of  the  practice.  The  theory  is  held  by 
the  literal  followers  of  Rousseau,  who  would  not  permit 
Emile  to  hear  the  name  of  God  before  adolescence ;  by 
the  defenders,  whether  wittingly  or  unwittingly;  of  the 
Enlightenment;  and  by  the  advocates  of  reason  as 
giving  us  the  heart  of  existence.  Concerning  this 
rationalistic  position  it  is  well  to  remember  the  saying 
of  Goethe  that  existence  divided  by  reason  leaves  a 
remainder.  Perhaps  it  is  through  this  remainder  that 
the  religious  nature  of  children  may  be  reached. 

In  contrast  with  this  position  let  me  suggest  several 
reasons  why  the  religious  nature  of  children  should  re- 


Religious  Development  and  Training     351 

ceive  attention.     First,  children  actually  possess  a  reli-  my  not  ? 

gious  nature.    It  is  not  the  religious  nature  of  the  adult  part^f™ 

civilized  man;   it  is  primitive,  childlike,  in  character,  childhood, 
but,  such  as  it  is,  it  is  definite,  present,  real. 

Second,  they  have  this  religious  nature  by  good  right,  A  Racial 

,    '   .  '    Inheritance. 

it  is  the  right  of  racial  inheritance.  Religion  is  one  of 
the  ways  by  which  man  has  adjusted  himself  to  his 
world,  it  is  one  of  the  conditions  of  his  survival,  it  is 
bred  in  the  bone  of  his  children,  like  the  instincts  of 
fear,  anger,  and  self-preservation. 

Third,  they  have  this  religious  nature  as  a  matter  Emotional 

.  and  Active 

essentially  of  feelings  and  will,  and  only  secondarily,  in  character, 
if  at  all,  as  a  matter  of  reason.    And  religion  is  com- 
prehensive enough  to  cover  these  terms  as  well  as 
rationality.     Though  religion  is  a  reasonable  expression 
of  man's  nature,  it  were  an  egregious  error  to  identify 
reason  and  religion. 
Fourth,  it  is  the  business  of  education  to  develop  Tbe 

'  •  •  /~.  ••   •  Business  of 

aright  all  inherent  capacities.     Given  a  religious  nature  Education, 
in  children,  it  is  not  an  educational  option  to  cultivate 
or  neglect  it.    What  is  elemental  in  human  nature  the 
educator  must   fashion.     What  nature  and    its  God 
have  joined  together,  let  not  the  teacher  put  asunder. 

Fifth,   it  is  one  of  the  wonderful  new  facts  that  Childhood 

.      ,.,  i         influences 

adolescence  is  likely  to  strengthen  the  tendencies  the  Adolescence, 

child  brings  with  him.    When  reason  does  come  with 

its  full  force  into  the  individual  life,  there  must  be  a 

background  of  solid  habit  and  good  training  whose 

value  attests  itself.    Without  a  religious  life  in  the  years 

of  childhood,   the   mill  of  reason   grinds  emptily  in 

youth.    We  may  feel  free  therefore  to  undertake  a 


352     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

consideration  of  the  religious  development  and  train- 
ing of  childhood. 

in  For  this  purpose  the  period  of  childhood  may  be 

roughly  divided  into  two  parts,  viz.  early  childhood, 
or  infancy,  from  birth  to  about  six  years  of  age,  and 
later  childhood,  from  six  to  about  twelve.  It  will  be 
borne  in  mind  with  reference  both  to  these  divisions  of 
time  and  to  the  characteristics  of  the  religious  life  in 
each  period  that  are  to  follow  that  only  average  results 
are  our  aim,  and  that  the  next  child  you  see  will  be  in 
some  respects  exceptional. 

The  Religion       Under  six  years  of  age,  the  religious  life  of  children 

of  Early  J  °   ' 

Childhood,  is  very  vague  and  ill-defined,  as  would  be  expected. 
They  do  not  know  much  about  the  meaning  of,  nor 
show  much  of  the  presence  of,  such  religious  emotions 
as  sympathy,  humility,  self-sacrifice,  mercy,  repentance, 
and  forgiveness.  This  is  nothing  more  than  saying 
that  children  in  their  religious  life  are  not  little  men 
and  women.  They  are  just  children.  But  the  im- 
portant thing  to  recognize  is  that  there  is  a  religion  that 
children  have,  comprising  the  very  germs  from  which 
all  later  development  is  to  spring.  The  religion  of  a 
child  under  six  consists  in  its  love  for  its  parents  and 
other  members  of  the  family,  its  vague  sense  of  de- 
pendence on  them  to  supply  its  wants,  its  fear  of  the 
consequences  of  disobedience,  its  pleasure  in  antici- 
pating the  rewards  of  obedience,  its  imagination 
peopling  the  dark  and  the  woods  with  beings,  its  open- 
eyed  wonder  at  every  new  phase  of  real  experience,  and 
its  vague  feeling  of  mystery,  indicated  in  the  changed 


Religious  Development  and  Training    353 

tone  of  voice  when  it  repeats  or  hears  a  prayer  it  does 
not  understand.  A  mind  familiar  with  the  history  of 
religion  in  the  race  would  probably  locate  the  child  in 
the  period  of  primitive  animism.  It  is  evident  from 
their  enumeration,  incomplete  as  it  is,  that  these 
characteristics  contain  the  simple  forms  of  many 
•complex  developments  in  mature  religion. 

The  religious  training  of  the  child  under  six  will  The 

Religious 

consist  in  being  kind  to  him,  initiating  him  gradually  Training 
into  the  customs  of  religion,  getting  him  to  do  the  un-  ^hudhood 
selfish  deed  of  which  he  might  not  have  thought  him- 
self, showing  pictures  of  children  and  animals,  being 
consistent  with  rewards  and  penalties,  securing  regular 
obedience,   directing   the   imagination   to   pleasurable 
objects  only,  exercising  patience  in  meeting  his  wants, 
permitting  only  good  things,  forbidding  only  evil  things, 
providing  associations  with  other  children,  and  minister- 
ing to  its  life  out  of  the  fulness  of  a  religious  heart. 

Some  of  the  things  mentioned  in  the  above  para- 
graphs will  seem  remote  enough  from  religion  as 
adults  know  and  practise  it.  This  is  partly  because  we 
do  not  fully  realize  the  unity  of  the  conscious  life,  the 
interconnectedness  of  religion  with  all  things  else,  and 
partly  because  religion  is  too  detached  a  matter  in 
most  adult  life. 

Passing  on,  the  characteristics  of  the  religious  life  The  Religion 
in  later  childhood  are  partly  the  preceding  ones  further  childhood, 
grown  and  partly  new  ones.    They  include  such  things 
as   imitation   of   elders,   the   influence   of   suggestion, 
custom  and  habit,  punctilious  emphasis  upon  externals, 

2A 


354     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The 

Religious 
Training 
of  Later 
Childhood. 


the  recognition  of  law,  the  obedience  to  authority, 
symbolism,  many  and  contradictory  principles  of  con- 
duct, credulity,  the  sense  of  the  naturalness  of  miracles, 
love  of  the  mythical  and  mythological,  the  devotion  to 
form,  superstition,  together  with  premonition  of  deep 
religious  stirrings,  and  the  sense  of  an  awakening  soul. 
Again  our  historian  of  religion  would  say  the  child  is 
in  the  period  of  primitive  polytheism,  myth-making,  and 
ritualism.  Perhaps  he  is  right  in  part,  but  in  addition 
there  are  the  influences  to  be  traced  of  ten  years'  life 
in  a  religious  home.  Under  the  influence  of  such  a 
present  potent  environment  much  that  is  original  in 
the  child's  nature  is  modified  and  redirected  and 
rapidly  outgrown. 

Religious  training  during  the  period  of  later  child- 
hood will  include  a  correct  religious  example,  the  sug- 
gesting of  deeds  of  religious  service,  the  formation  of 
correct  habits,  a  just  law,  a  gentle  yet  firm  authority, 
the  implanting  of  a  few  elemental  principles  of  conduct 
like  the  Golden  Rule,  the  unviolated  principle  of 
veracity  in  one's  own  life,  walks  with  the  father  through 
field  and  wood,  helping  the  mother  in  the  home,  the 
unstinted  use  of  the  world's  best  stories,  particularly 
those  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  regularity  in 
attendance  upon  religious  service,  an  interested  and 
reverential  nature  study,  the  teaching  of  simple  truths 
about  God,  such  as  His  presence  and  help  at  all  times, 
and  the  careful  avoidance  of  religious  precocity.  It  is 
very  easy  to  overstimulate  the  religious  nature  of 
twelve-year-old  children.  In  this  connection  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  Jesus  at  twelve  represents  the  early 


Religious   Development  and  Training    355 

Oriental  adolescence,  corresponding  more  nearly  to 
fifteen  with  us.  Before  adolescence  it  is  better  to 
guide  than  to  press  the  natural  religious  development. 
Precocity  in  religion  as  in  other  lines  is  likely  to  mean 
a  weakened  maturity. 

Both  these  descriptions  of  and  prescriptions  for  the 
religion  of  childhood  have  been  general  and  vague  and 
unillustrated.  Perhaps  enough,  however,  has  been  said 
to  indicate  that  the  child  has  a  religion  of  its  own,  that 
this  religion  is  to  be  understood  and  cultivated,  and 
that  we  understand  and  cultivate  a  child's  religion  best 
when  we  simply  take  it  as  a  natural  part  of  a  natural 
child's  life.  The  mother's  knee,  the  mother's  face, 
and  the  mother's  love  are  the  alphabet  of  every  child's 
religious  training.  Every  mother  should  rear  her  child 
as  a  possible  saviour  in  his  own  way  of  his  people  from 
their  sins. 

For  our  purposes  the  period  of  youth  may  be  divided  In  Youth, 
into  three  parts,  viz.  early  adolescence,  from  about 
eleven  to  about  fourteen  years  of  age;  middle  ado- 
lescence, from  about  fourteen  to  eighteen;  and  late 
adolescence,  from  about  eighteen  to  twenty-four.  It 
will  always  be  noticed  that  boys  are  slower  in  develop- 
ing physically  than  girls.  It  will  also  be  noticed  that 
our  divisions  for  this  religious  discussion  are  physio- 
logical in  character,  a  fact  of  great  significance  in 
itself. 

Early  adolescence  covers  the  last  years  of  the  gram-  i"*16  Religion 
mar  school.  The  period  is  often  spoken  of  as  that  Adolescence. 
of  puberty.  The  key-word  of  this  stage  of  religious 


356     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

development  is,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  God  is  love, 
for,  physiologically,  love  is  god.  The  scientific  students 
of  human  nature,  —  anthropologists,  sociologists,  psy- 
chologists alike,  unite  in  affirming  an  intimate  relation- 
ship between  the  social  and  religious  instincts.  They 
both  show  a  love  of  others;  self-sacrifice;  a  heightened 
sensitiveness  to  phenomena  of  nature ;  a  vivification  of 
any  act  or  object  or  experience  associated  with  the 
object  of  one's  affection;  the  expression  of  feeling  in 
music,  poetry,  and  rhythmic  movement;  alternating 
humility  and  exaltation;  and  many  other  analogies. 
There  are  other  characteristics  also  of  the  religious 
development  of  early  adolescence,  among  which  should 
be  mentioned  the  beginning  of  abstract  questioning  as 
a  supplement  to  earlier  concrete  acting;  the  sense  that 
religion  has  an  inner  meaning,  that  its  nature  is  spiritual, 
though  the  full  significance  of  this  idea  is  inexhaustible 
even  in  maturity;  and  the  transition  is  beginning, 
fraught  with  such  future  moment,  from  authority  to 
experience. 

The  The  religious  training  appropriate  for  early  adoles- 

Trainingof     cence  is  preeminently  social  religious  influences,  —  it  is 
Early  ^e  social  stage  in  its  real  initiation.     The  more  uncon- 

Adolescence. 

scious  the  influences  the  better  the  results.  No  traps 
should  be  set,  —  in  vain  is  the  religious  net  spread 
in  its  sight.  Natural  growth  is  best.  It  is  the  great 
period  for  the  first  awakening  of  ideals.  They  give 
objects  to  budding  aspirations.  Hero-worship  calls 
out  and  satisfies  lofty  emotions.  The  reading  should 
be  widely  biographical  in  character.  This  period 
is  the  great  opportunity  of  evil  companionships  to 


Religious  Development  and  Training    357 

corrupt  good  morals;  the  expanding  soul  is  safe  only 
in  an  atmosphere  of  congenial,  natural,  wholesome 
religious  associates. 

Middle  adolescence  practically  covers  the  secondary  ™er.F^1,iglon 

J     of  Middle 

school  period.  It  is  the  most  important  epoch  in  Adolescence, 
individual  development.  The  whole  life,  physical 
and  mental,  is  coming  into  its  power.  Whether  this 
power  be  used  or  abused  is  the  question  determinative 
of  the  future.  The  religious  development  of  this 
period  is  perhaps  characterized  by  the  term  individ- 
uality. The  sociality  of  early  adolescence  issues  in 
the  individuality  of  middle  adolescence.  About  indi- 
viduality as  a  nucleus  cluster  many  related  things, 
such  as  personal  experience,  incipient  doubts,  serious 
morat  and  religious  questioning,  the  quickening  of 
conscience,  the  looking  for  perfection  and  righteous- 
ness, high  aspirations,  and  the  whole  outgo  of  the  soul 
to  the  highest  ideals.  All  will  remember  the  lofty 
motto  of  their  senior  class  in  the  high  school,  and  the 
never  to  be  repeated  unique  solemnity  of  the  graduating 
valedictory.  The  most  significant  of  all  the  ways  in 
which  the  growing  sense  of  individuality  expresses 
itself  is  through  that  definite  religious  awakening 
known  as  conversion.  This  is  the  experience  which 
unites  the  individual  and  God ;  it  involves  the  thought 
of  His  being,  the  feeling  of  His  presence,  and  the  will 
to  do  His  will.  No  description,  however,  is  adequate 
to  all  cases,  as  their  variations  are  multitudinous.  It 
is  a  fact,  which  the  psychologists  1  who  have  recently 

1  Cf.  Hall,  "Adolescence,"  Vol.  II,  ch.  XIV. 


358     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


James  on 
Conversion. 


The 

Religious 
Training  of 
Middle 
Adolescence. 


Guiding  the 
Process  of 
Conversion. 


entered  the  field  of  religion  practically  agree  upon, 
that  the  curve  of  conversion  is  highest  between  four- 
teen and  eighteen,  the  exact  age  of  highest,  curvature 
being  undetermined  and  also  unimportant,  and  that 
two-thirds  of  the  conversions  occur  before  twenty. 
For  a  general  description  of  what  conversion,  the 
most  significant  personal  experience  of  middle  adoles- 
cence, is,  I  will  quote  the  pictorial  words  of  James. 
He  writes: 

"Let  us  hereafter,  in  speaking  of  the  hot  place  in  a 
man's  consciousness,  the  group  of  ideas  to  which  he 
devotes  himself,  and  from  which  he  works,  call  it 
the  habitual  centre  of  his  personal  energy.  It  makes 
a  great  difference  to  a  man  whether  one  set  of  his  ideas, 
or  another,  be  the  centre  of  his  energy ;  and  it  makes  a 
great  difference,  as  regards  any  set  of  ideas  which  he 
may  possess,  whether  they  become  central  or  remain 
peripheral  in  him.  To  say  that  a  man  is  '  converted ' 
means,  in  these  terms,  that  religious  ideas,  previously 
peripheral  in  his  consciousness,  now  take  a  central 
place,  and  that  religious  aims  form  the  habitual  centre 
of  his  energy."  1 

What,  then,  is  the  religious  training  appropriate 
to  middle  adolescence  ?  Manifestly  the  essential  thing 
is  the  right  guiding  of  the  process  of  conversion.  I 
refer  to  conversion  as  a  process  advisedly;  whatever 
it  may  be  for  the  hardened  adult  sinner,  for  the  adoles- 
cent it  should  be  a  process,  a  normal  and  universal 
process.  In  all  ages  and  nations  the  adolescent  youth 
has  assumed  by  some  rite  the  duties  of  responsible 

1  James,  "The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,"  p.  196. 


Religious  Development  and  Training    359 

living.  He  takes  his  place  as  a  serious  contributor  to 
the  best  life  of  his  tribe,  his  nation,  his  race,  his  fellow- 
beings.  In  conversion  religion,  in  the  comprehensive- 
ness which  moderns  attach  to  it,  gathers  up  the  idea 
of  pubic  initiations  among  savage  tribes,  and  assump- 
tions of  citizenship  among  civilized  nations.  It  is 
an  experience  in  the  life  of  developing  youth  which 
society  can  neglect  only  at  great  risk.  It  is  a  process, 
however,  in  which  no  forcing  should  appear;  imita- 
tion, suggestion,  sympathy,  and  the  use  of  natural 
opportunity  are  enough.  When  nature  is  opening 
the  door  of  the  soul,  it  is  only  necessary  that  we  invite 
it  forth.  Only  with  the  neglected,  the  wayward,  or 
the  old  are  exceptionally  urgent  means  to  be  used, 
in  which  cases  also  exceptional  phenomena  may  occur 
at  conversion,  like  trances,  visions,  and  voices.  These 
are  all  not  so  much  signs  that  God  is  present  as  that 
He  has  been  absent.1 
The  religious  training  of  the  middle  adolescence  T06 

.  .  „    ,  Religious 

does  not  stop  at  conversion,  —  it  is  only  well  begun,  value  of 
The  next  and  indispensable  thing  is  something  to  do  Work- 
in  the  world  for  the  church.  Work  attaches  affections. 
The  idle  convert  is  in  graver  danger  than  the  uncon- 
verted idle.  To-day  competing  interests  and  organiza- 
tions are  winning  away  youths  from  the  church,  because 
the  former  give  them  occupation.  The  church  is 
mature ;  it  needs  also  to  become  adolescent,  that  is,  to 
organize  its  young  people,  not  primarily  for  personal 
growth  in  grace,  but  for  practical  social  service.  He  saves 
his  soul  who  loses  it  in  self-forgetful  deeds  for  others. 

1  Cf.  Davenport,  "Primitive  Traits  in  Religious  Revivals." 


360     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Room  for  Withal,  since  this  is  the  period  of  individuality,  free 

place  and  play  must  be  given  for  the  development  of 
individuality.  Adolescent  experiences  must  not  be 
cast  in  adult  moulds;  the  same  spirit  bestows  a  diver- 
sity of  personal  experiences.  The  church  must  make 
room  for  the  adolescent  truly  converted,  whatever 
enlargement  in  non-essential  traditional  positions  this 
involves.  In  the  interest  of  liberality  we  must  always 
remember  that  every  influx  of  new  spiritual  life  in 
the  growth  of  the  church  has  meant  a  widening  at 
some  point  of  current  views. 

The  Religion  The  religious  development  of  late  adolescence  covers, 
Adolescence,  so  far  as  the  school  is  concerned,  college  life.  The 
students  who  go  to  college  are  those  selected  by  society 
for  her  best  investments.  They  are  a  choice  com- 
pany, and  rapidly  increasing  in  size,  though  still  com- 
paratively small.  The  high  school  is  still  the  people's 
college.  In  the  college  the  budding  powers  of  youth, 
religious  and  all,  come  into  their  powers.  The  char- 
acteristic word  of  the  religious  life  of  college  students 
is  independence.  It  is  the  age  of  reason,  of  personal 
judgment,  and  of  thinking  for  oneself.  Though 
imitation  and  suggestion  are  potent  influences,  and 
groups,  chums,  clubs,  and  fraternities  are  comprehen- 
sive forces,  still  in  the  secret  of  his  own  consciousness 
the  college  man  is  thinking  out  things  for  himself. 
Individual  variations  are  more  noticeable,  and  inde- 
pendent intellectual  positions  are  both  stated  and 
defended.  Opposition  is  keen  to  all  unreality  in  reli- 
gion, to  pious  professions  and  empty  forms.  The 


Religious  Development  and  Training    361 

demand  of  independent  reason  is  for  reality,  for  reality 
in  the  conclusions  of  thought,  the  expressions  of  feeling, 
and  the  practice  of  principles.  Life  is  becoming  ad- 
justed to  reality  in  the  large,  to  old  and  new  knowledge, 
to  vast  natural  processes  and  human  undertakings, 
to  the  sweep  of  the  world's  movement  in  its  unity.  A 
natural  part  of  these  adjustments  and  readjustments 
is  doubt,  the  feeling  of  uncertainty  as  to  what  the  truth 
is.  Atheistic  tendencies  and  irreligious  feelings,  usu- 
ally of  temporary  duration,  appear,  whose  character 
is  largely  determined  by  home  training  and  early  en- 
vironment. There  is  an  element  of  truth  in  the  saying 
that  of  German  university  students  one-third  go  to 
the  devil,  one-third  break  down,  and  the  remaining 
third  govern  Europe. 
The  spirit  of  independence  in  college  youth  demands  Thc 

'     '  ...        Religious 

above  all  religious  freedom.     This  is  one  of  the  gifts  Training 
of  the  American  nation  to  the  nations  of  the  world,   °f,lfte 

'    Adolescence. 

it  is  one  of  the  gifts  of  the  American  college  to  its  stu-  ReligjOUS 
dents.     Both   of   these   are   possible    through    God's  Freedom, 
gift  of  freedom  to  man.    Freedom  may  be  abused, 
souls  may  be  lost,  but  it  is  elemental  order  of  existence. 
The  safeguards  of  freedom  are  instruction,  sympathy, 
and  love  from  those  who  bestow  it.    The  college  says 
to  its  students,  be  free,  be  men,  God  and  your  parents 
love  you. 
The   religious   horizon   of   college   men   should   be  widening  of 

....  ,     ,  ,       ,.    .  ,    Religious 

widened  by  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  religion  and  Horizon. 
of  the  church,  by  acquaintanceship  with  the  religious 
values  wrought  out  by  the  race  from  the  beginning 
until  now,  and  by  a  study  of  the  religious  experiences 


362     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

of  great  men,  like  Paul,  Augustine,  Luther,  Calvin, 
and  Wesley.  In  their  light  they  see  light. 

The  presentation  of  religion  to  college  men  should 
always  be  in  relation  to  some  definite,  concrete,  and 
practical  form  of  social  upbuilding.  Nothing  less 
than  the  religious  spirit  of  unselfish  labor  for  the  sake 
of  the  Kingdom  has  in  it  adequate  social  redemptive 
power.  The  problem  of  modern  Christianity  is  to 
demonstrate  its  power  to  save  society,  as  it  has  already 
demonstrated  its  power  to  save  individuals.  The 
college  man  will  hear  a  practical  call  when  an  emo- 
tional appeal  is  without  response.  In  keeping  here- 
with, some  active  form  of  religious  work  is  the  great 
need  of  college  life.  Too  often  the  preperception 
is  given  that  only  when  they  get  out  can  they  begin 
to  do  something.  Do  it  now!  We  are  not  yet  far 
enough  away  from  academic  cloistered  mediaevalism. 

Concerning  doubt  among  college  men,  the  attitude 
of  repression  is  vain.  The  doubter  can  no  more  cease 
doubting  than  he  can  cease  thinking.  Keep  on  think- 
ing, and  be  patient  with  yourself  meanwhile,  are  the 
first  mottoes.  Descartes  is  a  wise  teacher  of  many 
college  youth,  especially  in  his  resolution  that  intellec- 
tual doubts  should  not  disturb  his  moral  way  of  life. 
The  active  work  also  forwards  the  student  perplexed 
with  doubts.  Think  them  out,  work  them  off,  —  these 
are  appropriate  modes  of  attack  for  the  independent, 
practical  college  youth.  In  the  latter  part  of  a  college 
course  philosophy  has  its  establishing  word  to  say 
to  those  who,  as  Bacon  said,  drink  deep  of  her  foun- 
tains. The  college  teacher  of  philosophy  may  also 


Religious  Development  and  Training   363 

be  guide  and  friend.  The  last  year  of  a  man's  college 
course  should  end  in  a  Welt- A  nschauung,  and  his  last 
college  thesis  in  philosophy  should  be,  "My  Personal 
Philosophy  of  Life."  It  is  his  last  chance,  ten  to  one, 
to  form  for  himself  that  system  of  thought  under  which 
he  begins  his  life-work. 

The  siftings  of  faith  in  college  leave  a  man  surer  and  rhc  One 
stronger.  The  things  that  are  left  cannot  be  blown 
away.  The  non-essentials  have  gone,  only  that  the 
essentials  may  remain.  Among  these  essentials  should 
be  his  firm  resolution,  supported  by  four  years  of  un- 
broken habit,  to  do  the  will  of  God  as  revealed  to  him 
in  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the  tie  that  binds  him  with 
a  vast  host  of  devoted  souls  to  do  the  work  of  God  in 
the  world. 

In  the  last  analysis  on  this  question  we  differ  from  Naturalness 
each  other  not  in  having  or  not  having  religion,  but  of  Religion, 
in  the  kind  of  religion  we  have.     It  is  one  of  the  in- 
alienable attributes  of   the  human  spirit,  a  universal 
phenomenon  of  man.     For,  as  Carlyle  in  effect  says, 
religion  is  whatever  a  man  does  practically  believe 
concerning  his  vital  relations  to  this  mysterious  uni- 
verse. 

The  individual  and  typical  development  of  religion 
through  childhood  and  youth  we  have  now  followed, 
suggesting  what  seems  the  appropriate  mode  of  train- 
ing. The  period  of  manhood  we  must  omit,  save  for 
the  general  opening  remarks,  as  our  interests  are 
centred  mainly  in  the  educational  years.  This  we  are 
the  less  reluctant  to  do,  because  if  the  child  and  the 
youth  are  successfully  trained  religiously,  the  man's 


364     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

future  may  be  safely  trusted.  But  the  problem  of  the 
religious  education  of  children  and  youth  is  too  large 
for  the  school  alone,  especially  the  American  school,  to 
solve;  the  great  agencies  of  home  and  church  must 
also  be  invoked.  To  the  mutual  services  of  home, 
school,  and  church,  as  they  forward  the  interests  of 
religious  education,  we  next  come. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  The  Influence  of  Suggestion  on  the  Age  of  Conversion. 

2.  The  Future  of  the  Religious  Revival. 

3.  The  New  Evangelism. 

4.  The  College  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  DEVELOPMENT  AND  TRAINING  OF  THE 
RELIGIOUS  NATURE 

Barnes,  Theological  Life  of  a  California  Child,  Fed.  Sem.,  Vol.  II, 

pp.  442-448. 

Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  Part  II. 
Davenport,  Primitive  Traits  in  Religious  Revivals. 
Griggs,  Moral  Education,  ch.  XXV. 
Hall,  Adolescence,  Vol.  II,  ch.  XIV. 
Harris,  Social  Culture  in  the  Form  of  Education  and  Religion, 

Ed.  Rev.,  1905. 

James,  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience,  chs.  IX  and  X. 
Leuba,  Studies  in  the  Psychology  of  Religious  Phenomena,  Am. 

J.  of  Psy.,  VII,  309. 

MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  Part  II,  ch.  VII. 
Oppenheim,  The  Development  of  the  Child,  ch.  VI. 
Peabody,  The  Religion  of  a  College  Student,  Forum,  June,  1901. 
Rosenkranz,  The  Philosophy  of  Education,  pp.  157-179. 
Starbuck,  Religion  in  General  Education,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1004. 
Tompkins,  The  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  pp.  270-275. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  HOME  * 

WHAT  is  the  value  of  the  home  as  a  social  institution  ?  Our 
What  are  the  dangers  that  threaten  the  vitality  of  the 
American  home?  How  may  religious  education  con- 
serve these  values  and  remedy  these  dangers?  These 
are  our  main  questions.  Upon  their  answers  hang  in 
part  both  the  efficiency  of  religious  education  and  the 
spiritual  progress  of  the  people. 

We  have  then  to  think  first  of  the  value  of  the  home  The  Value  ol 

.   ,   .  .  ...  ...    the  Home. 

as  a  social  institution.  A  series  of  considerations  will 
serve  to  show  us  this  value.  To  begin  with,  the  home 
is  the  first  in  time  of  the  great  social  institutions ;  first  The  First 

in  Time. 

in  the  life  of  the  individual,  first  in  the  life  of  the  race. 
It  is  older  than  man's  school,  or  occupation,  or  state, 
or  church.  Indeed  these  latter  institutions  are  his- 
torically outgrowths  of  the  home,  and  they  can  never 
escape  the  influence  of  their  origin.  To  take  one 
illustration  of  this  historic  development.  In  early  He- 
brew days  the  father  of  the  home  was,  ex  ojptio,  the 
teacher,  the  lawgiver,  and  the  priest.  "And  these  words 
which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be  upon  thy 
heart;  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy 
children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in 

1  A  brief  outline  of  this  discussion  appears  in  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Religious  Education  Association,  1904. 

365 


366     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

thy  house,  and  when  them  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when 
thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up."  The  per- 
petuity of  the  Jewish  race  to-day,  without  a  country,  is 
due  to  this  same  Deuteronomic  home.  We  must  omit 
other  examples  of  the  beginnings  of  civilization  in  the 
home.  Seeing  that  it  is  the  first  and  the  fount  of  all 
social  organizations,  we  may  accord  to  it  also  the  rank 
of  first  in  importance,  and  agree  with  Spurgeon  when  he 
said,  "Home  is  the  grandest  of  all  institutions." 
The  Social  Second,  the  value  of  the  home  appears  also  in  the 

Unit. 

consideration  that  it  is  the  elementary  unit  of  society. 
Only  in  impracticable  Utopias,  like  Plato's  Republic, 
has  the  home  been  surrendered.  As  Lady  Mary 
Wortley  Montagu  observed,  there  are  ultimately  but 
two  classes  in  society,  men  and  women,  and  these 
twain  are  one  flesh  hi  every  home.  In  the  family  is 
found  the  natural  and  minimal  unit  of  the  human  race. 
The  unit  of  society  is  not  the  individual,  who  receives 
and  transmits  his  life  from  and  to  others  —  society  is 
rather  molecular  than  atomic  in  structure;  nor  is  the 
unit  of  society  the  school,  for  it  receives  pupils  from 
the  home  and  keeps  them  but  the  maturing  section  of 
their  lives;  nor  is  it  business,  however  engrossing,  for 
from  the  home  men  go  forth  to  work  and  to  the  home 
they  return  to  rest ;  nor  is  it  the  state,  Plato  to  the 
contrary,  for  to  be  a  citizen  presupposes  the  parent  and 
the  child ;  nor  is  it  the  church,  as  certain  religious  sects 
who  have  sacrificed  the  home,  like  the  Shakers,  and 
thereby  come  to  grief,  will  illustrate.  About  the  home 
as  centre  all  the  interests  of  man's  life  are  organized; 
it  is  the  central  luminary  about  which  its  four  planets, 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      367 

school,  vocation,  state,  and  church,  revolve;  in  it  is 
found  society  reduced  to  its  lowest  terms;  of  all  the 
social  institutions  it  is  the  nearest  to  self-sufficiency. 

Third,  in  the  home  centre  all  the  elements  of  man-  The  Centre 
i  •  •      i  •  j»  mi      of  Man- 

making,   viz.   heredity,   environment,   and   will.    The  making. 

home  is  the  only  institution  that  has  legitimate  control 
of  the  element  of  heredity,  and  heredity  is  the  greatest 
third  of  a  man's  life.  The  home  is  but  one  of  the  many 
institutions  that  environ  man,  but,  coming  during  the 
most  susceptible  years  of  childhood,  its  influence  is 
prepotent.  As  to  the  element  of  will,  the  habits 
fashioned  in  youth  in  the  home  are  regularly  the  gar- 
ments of  the  soul's  perduring  life.  If  one  principle  of 
human  destiny  has  more  universality  than  another,  it 
is  this,  the  home  makes  the  man.  One  might  think  of 
Lincoln  as  an  exception,  but  Lincoln  said,  "All  that  I 
am  or  hope  to  be  I  owe  to  my  mother."  Control  the 
influences  of  heredity,  environment,  and  will  in  the 
home,  and  you  all  but  control  the  man.  The  parents 
are  the  makers  of  a  people.  The  teachers  cannot  with- 
out the  home  make  a  man ;  they  can  only  develop  the 
potential  man  that  the  home  sends.  The  business 
world  without  the  home  cannot  make  a  man;  it  only 
gives  him  an  opportunity  to  declare  what  manner  of 
man  he  is.  The  state  without  the  home  cannot  make 
a  man ;  it  only  returns  his  deed  upon  the  doer.  Nor 
can  even  the  church  without  the  home  make  a  man; 
it  only  sends  Heaven's  appeal  to  his  heart.  These 
other  agencies  are  indispensable  indeed  in  modern 
society  for  man-making,  but  still  they  are  secondary. 
Fourth,  the  home  is  the  temple  of  the  love  of 


368     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Temple 
of  Man's 
Love. 


The  Main 
Agency  of 
Moral  and 
Religious 
Education. 


humanity,  the  sacred  sanctuary  of  what  Drummond 
famously  called  "the  greatest  thing  in  the  world." 
The  Apostle  of  love  declares,  "God  is  love.  He  that 
dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God  and  He  in  him." 
The  home,  especially  in  its  procreative  function, 
concretes  God's  life  in  the  world ;  it  is  a  call  to  men  to 
exercise  divine  gifts ;  it  is  a  true  Shekinah ;  it  is  a  shelter 
of  the  Eternal  in  the  heart  of  the  temporal.  Even  when 
there  is  no  room  for  God  in  the  busy  marts  and  inns  of 
life,  the  home  is  still  his  dwelling-place.  All  love  is  of 
God.  All  the  externals  of  life  are  laid  aside  in  the 
home.  Here,  if  at  all,  man  meets  God  face  to  face. 
Marriage  is  a  religious  as  well  as  civic  rite.  Destroy 
the  sanctity  of  the  home,  substitute  therefor  the  con- 
venience or  the  pleasure  of  man,  and  that  moral  chaos 
ensues  which  betokens  the  departure  of  God.  It  is 
interesting  to  observe  that  all  our  names  best  descriptive 
of  the  ideal  relationships  of  religion  are  home-names,  — 
God  is  our  Father,  we  are  brethren  one  of  another,  and 
the  whole  race  is  one  family.  Long  ago  a  lover  of 
wisdom  wrote,  "Love  is  the  eldest  and  noblest  and 
mightiest  of  the  gods,  and  the  chiefest  author  and 
giver  of  happiness  and  virtue,  in  life  and  after  death."  l 
Fifth,  it  does  not  surprise  us  after  these  things  that 
the  home  should  be  considered  the  main  agency  of 
moral  and  religious  education.  And  so  it  is,  for  it  has 
the  heart  of  the  child.  As  no  other  institution  does  or 
can,  the  home  has  the  heart  of  the  child.  Without  it, 
let  every  institution  combine  to  do  its  work,  and  the 
child  is  still  an  orphan,  bereft,  in  heart  and  character, 

1  Plato,  "  Symposium,"  180  A,  Jowett  Tr. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      369 

of  a  mother's  love  and  a  father's  tender  care.  From 
the  moral  and  religious  life  of  the  home  the  children 
pass  into  wider  relationships  carrying  the  same  spirit; 
"from  kith  to  kind"  is  the  natural  way.  "It  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  family  has  been  regarded,  as  in 
moral  education,  the  most  indispensable  of  all  in- 
struments," writes  the  English  author  of  a  treatise  on 
moral  education.1  Nothing  less  than  this  is  also  true 
of  the  service  of  the  home  to  religious  education,  for 
the  ideas  and  the  deeds  of  the  home  mainly  constitute 
our  capacity  for  appreciating  divine  things. 

These  things  then  serve  to  show  us  the  unsearchable 
value  of  the  home  as  a  social  institution.  Let  us  look 
first  to  our  individual  homes,  whence  with  more  profit 
we  may  turn  to  the  homes  of  others.  Our  second 
question  was,  what  are  the  dangers  that  threaten  the 
vitality  of  the  American  home? 

There  are  dangers  threatening  the  home  and  they  Dangers  to 

r  •     the  Home. 

loom  larger  on  the  horizon  than  the  size  of  a  man's 
hand.  Some  of  these  dangers  may  not  strike  our  in- 
dividual homes  directly,  but  they  do  indirectly  so  far 
as  our  sons  and  daughters  under  their  influence  lose 
the  sense  of  value  that  attaches  to  the  home.  Let  me 
enumerate  a  few  of  these  obvious  dangers. 

The  American  heiress  and  the  foreign  noble  exchange  Tit)es  for 
a  fortune  and  a  title.    The  girl  has  money  which  she 
did  not  earn  and  wants  a  title  which  she  has  not.    The 
noble  has  a  title  which,  perhaps,  he  did  not  earn  and 
wants  a  fortune  which  he  has  not.    These  two  agree  to 

1  MacCunn,  "The  Making  of  Character,"  p.  87. 

2  B 


370     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

supply  each  the  other's  want,  and  they  become  man  and 
wife.  Publicity  is  given  the  exchange,  the  minds  of 
the  youth  are  forced  to  consider  wrong  ideals  of  mar- 
riage, many  other  rich  girls  are  made  to  stumble,  and 
the  holy  estate  of  matrimony  is  brought  into  disrepute. 
It  is  slight  tribute  to  the  ability  of  the  American  rich 
to  distinguish  between  the  symbols  and  the  substance 
of  true  nobility  that  foreign  continental  bureaus  flourish 
whose  aim  is  to  send  impoverished  nobles  to  our  coun- 
try wife-hunting. 
A  Bun  of  Again,  home-life  is  being  made  ridiculous  by  the 

Ridicule.  .  ,     ,          .  ,  ... 

comic  press  and  the  pleasantry  columns  of  the  news- 
papers. There  is  humor  that  maketh  glad  the  heart 
of  man,  there  is  wit  that  makes  his  face  to  shine,  and 
there  is  satire  and  false  cynicism  that  eat  out  the  values 
of  life.  To  laugh  with  the  home  is  one  thing,  to  laugh 
at  it  is  another.  A  young  generation  is  now  being 
nourished  on  laughter  at  the  home.  They  cannot  thus 
bring  to  their  own  future  homes  a  whole-hearted  respect 
and  devotion.  Parents  must  have  a  care  that  nothing 
that  defileth  the  home  or  the  thought  of  the  home 
should  enter  into  the  minds  of  youth,  or  entering,  that 
its  influence  be  offset. 

Divorce.  Again,  something  that  needs  but  bare  mention  here, 

for  the  public  conscience  is  already  being  widely 
aroused  to  this  danger,  viz.  the  growing  evil  of  divorce. 
What  God  has  joined  together  men  are  putting  asunder, 
and  for  other  than  the  scriptural  or  justifiable  ground. 
What  constitutes  justifiable  ground  other  than  the 
scriptural  cause  is  a  perplexing  question  too  large  for 
treatment  here.  But  the  present  ease  with  which 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      371 

divorce  may  be  secured  encourages  hasty  assumption 
of  the  marriage  vows,  increases  infidelity  thereto,  tends 
to  legitimize  free  love,  makes  children  worse  than 
orphans,  and  brings  a  divine  ordinance  into  human 
contempt. 
Again  the  home  is  being  too  much  forsaken  by  our  TheWoman 

TT    j  r  r        j  out  of  the 

women.  Under  no  force  of  adverse  circumstance,  Home, 
girls  are  leaving  the  home-roof  to  become  independent 
wage-earners.  Under  no  stress  of  personal  necessity 
or  social  demand,  our  women  are  increasingly  entering 
the  professions.  Instead  of  teaching  their  own  sons  at 
home  how  to  vote,  some  are  preferring  to  become 
voters  themselves.  Instead  of  the  club  existing  for  the 
home  as  it  should,  in  some  cases  the  home  is  existing 
for  the  club.  In  these  respects  some  of  our  women 
are  without  justification  escaping  those  limitations  of 
the  home  which  really  condition  their  highest  life; 
thus  they  leave  undone  those  things  which  women  alone 
can  do,  and  attempt  to  do  those  things  which  men  alone 
should  do.  Disguise  it  as  she  may,  a  woman's  natural 
and  ultimate  satisfaction  is  found  only  in  being  the 
queen  of  the  household.  How  much  better  for  her  to 
keep  the  springs  of  the  water  of  life  pure  in  the  home 
than  to  attempt  to  filter  its  muddy  currents  in  the 
streets  !  I  speak  here,  of  course,  only  concerning  cases 
of  preference;  where  necessity  puts  the  woman  out  of 
the  home  the  problem  has  merged  with  the  wider 
general  social  problem. 

But  the  man  is  the  greater  recreant.     If  the  home  T*«Man 

out  of  the 

is  being  too  much  forsaken  by  the  woman,  it  is  being  Home, 
too  much  neglected  by  the  man.     Some  women  do  not 


372     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

live  up  to  their  home  privileges;  most  men  do  not. 
What  is  the  situation?  Necessity  takes  the  father 
from  the  home  the  working  hours  of  the  day;  and 
preference,  too  often,  the  remaining.  To  many  Ameri- 
can men,  home  is  little  else  than  the  place  where  they 
sleep.  The  children  are  left  to  the  care  of  the  mother; 
the  father  goes  hastily  in  the  morning  to  the  office,  and  in 
the  evening,  by  appointment,  to  some  meeting  or  the  club. 
Business  and  masculine  pleasures  keep  him  too  rushed 
to  be  a  husband  to  his  wife  and  a  father  to  his  children. 
The  American  home  is  not  the  least  of  the  sufferers 
from  the  American  haste  and  practical  materialism. 
Decay  of  And  all  these  dangers  combined  lead  to  the  most 

Family 

Religion.  ominous  of  all,  viz.  the  decadence  of  family  religion. 
At  this  point  we  touch  our  immediate  subject  and  pre- 
pare the  way  for  our  last  question.  The  father  is  no 
longer  the  teacher,  nor  the  priest,  nor  even  the  law- 
giver. Family  worship  is  almost  an  extinct  custom; 
everybody  is  aware  of  it  but  nothing  seems  to  be  arising 
in  its  stead.  Children  are  growing  up  without  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible  and  unaccustomed  to  hearing  the 
sound  of  their  father's  voice  in  prayer,  or  in  the  giving 
of  thanks  in  the  breaking  of  bread.  Particularly  is  the 
lack  of  anything  like  definite  and  systematic  religious 
instruction  in  the  home  to  be  deplored.  Professor  Coe 
has  written,  "There  is  reason  to  fear  that  most  parents 
give  utterly  inadequate  attention  to  religious  training 
within  the  family.  In  the  minds  of  many  parents,  too, 
there  is  uncertainty  and  confusion  as  to  what  should 
be  done,  or  taught,  or  required,  or  expected."  l  The 

1  "  Religion  of  a  Mature  Mind,"  p.  323. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home       373 

religious  spirit  is  not  dead  in  home  life,  for  it  is  uni- 
versal and  cannot  die,  but  its  old  family  forms  are 
going,  and  new  ones  must  be  had  to  take  their  place. 
These  then  are  the  dangers  that  threaten  the  Ameri- 
can home  and  their  consideration  brings  us  to  our  third 
question,  to  religious  education  in  the  home  as  the  safe- 
guard of  its  inestimable  values  and  the  remedy  for  its 
grave  dangers. 

Religious  education  in  the  home  is  our  safeguard  and  Reliei°us 

Education  in 

our  remedy.     Our  message  is  to  parents ;   theirs  is  the  the  Home 
brunt  of  the  problem.     I  propose  religious  education  ^rdand 
in  the  home  as  no  cure-all  alone,  without  need  for  Remedy, 
help  from  the  general  uplifting  forces  of  society,  of  the 
church  in  particular,  but  as  the  great  thing  needful 
to-day,   without   which   other  social   and   redemptive 
agencies  are  impeded  in  their  work,  and  with  which 
the  home  may  be  made  the  very  nursery  of  civilization. 
I  propose  religious  education,  for,  when  true,  it  brings 
God   our  Saviour  and   Christ  His  Revealer  into   the 
thought  and  life  of  men,  and  no  reality  less  than  God 
is  the  ultimate  solution  of  our  human  problems.    And 
I  propose  religious  education  in  the  home,  for  the  home 
is  the  most  effective  teacher  of  religion,  and  the  home 
cannot  justly,  as  it  is  to-day  tempted  to  do,  throw  off 
this  burden.    This  last  point  we  must  exemplify. 
The  burden  of  religious  education  cannot  be  thrown  Religious 

...  11.         lit  11.      Education  an 

by  the  home  upon  the  public  school,  though  the  public  unavoidable 
school  has  its  distinct  duty  to  religion;    these  points  f 
will  occupy  us  in  the  succeeding  chapter. 
The  burden  of  religious  education  cannot  be  thrown 


374     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

by  the  home  upon  the  Sunday  School.  In  its  modern 
inception  by  Robert  Raikes  the  Sunday  School  repre- 
sents the  best  effort  of  the  church  to  supplement  that 
religious  instruction  which  children  were  not  sufficiently 
receiving  in  the  home.  The  Sunday  School  movement 
has  succeeded  wonderfully  in  the  work  of  religious 
instruction  and  represents  one  of  the  most  beneficent 
social  forces  set  free  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
temptation  is  strong  in  the  home  to  trust  to  the  Sunday 
School  entirely  the  work  of  religious  instruction.  In 
several  respects,  however,  such  trust  is  fatuous. 
Without  home  foundations,  the  Sunday  School  cannot 
avail.  Even  if  it  were  effective  alone,  the  time  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Sunday  School  is  not  adequate  for  that 
systematic  and  continuous  religious  instruction  needed 
by  growing  children.  And  it  must  always  be  remem- 
bered that  the  parent  is  the  natural  and  most  influential 
religious  teacher  of  the  child.  The  Sunday  School  must 
remain,  as  it  began,  to  supplement,  but  it  can  never  be 
trusted  to  supplant  the  home  in  religious  instruction. 

Nor  can  the  burden  of  religious  education  be  thrown 
by  the  home  upon  the  pulpit.  Without  the  back- 
ground of  the  home,  the  pulpit  can  do  but  little.  Let 
the  pastor  use  his  sermon  for  the  teaching  of  religious 
truth,  as  well  as  for  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel, 
never  so  well,  and  the  people  will  remain  largely  in 
ignorance  of  Christian  truth,  for  though  they  hear  the 
word,  they  do  not  give  it  back  again,  without  which 
there  is  no  real  learning.  Pastors  are  often  surprised 
at  the  inability  of  parishioners  of  many  years'  standing 
to  state,  and  apparently  to  grasp,  the  simplest  religious 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      375 

truths.  The  teaching  function  of  the  ministry,  and 
there  is  such,  not  to  mention  the  heralding  of  good 
tidings,  is  effective  on  a  large  scale  only  when  it  can 
use,  and  does  not  have  to  supply,  the  results  of  home 
training.  In  the  chapter  following  the  next  we  must 
return  to  the  service  of  the  church  in  religious  educa- 
tion. Meanwhile  the  American  home  must  bear  its 
own  burden  of  religious  education,  however  its  burden 
may  be  shared  by  other  educational  agencies.  How 
shall  this  burden  be  borne  ?  We  cannot  go  backward 
to  good  old  things ;  we  must  go  forward  to  better  new 
things.  What  things? 

It  is  our  purpose  now  to  enumerate  a  few  of  those  The  Forces 

.  .  of  the  Home, 

forces  which   the  modem   Christian  American  home 

must  represent.    First  and  foremost  it  must  represent 

an  enlightened  choice  of  life  partners.    The  permanent  Right  Choice 

happiness  of  the  home  and  the  rapidest  improvement  partners. 

of  the  human  race  rest  here.    Heredity  is  the  greatest 

single  force  in  life.    It  represents  the  natural  expression 

of  the  divine  law  of  visiting  the  iniquities  of  the  fathers 

unto   the   third   and   fourth  generation  and   showing 

mercy  unto  thousands.     Not  a  Platonic  reorganization 

of  human  society,  nor  statute  laws  requiring  physical 

examination  for  candidates  for  matrimony,  but  only 

the  first  founders  of  the  home  can  utilize  aright  the 

foundational  law  of  heredity.    To  be  well  born,  that 

is  the  first  thing.     This  truth  parents  must  instil  into 

the  minds  and  hearts  of  their  adolescent  children. 

In  the  second  place,  the  well-born  child  must  grow  The 
up  in  a  religious  atmosphere  in  the  home.    As  air  fills 


376     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

the  lungs,  so  must  religion  the  home.  Children  must 
breathe  in  the  religious  atmosphere  every  moment  of 
every  day.  All  home  situations  must  be  permeated  by 
the  sane  and  practical  spirit  of  religion.  The  words 
spoken,  the  deeds  done,  as  well  as  the  prayers  said, 
hymns  sung,  and  Scriptures  read,  must  be  in  the  Spirit 
of  God.  The  new  religion  in  the  home  must  be  a  new 
form  of  life.  The  sweet  hour  of  prayer  must  become 
the  sweet  day  of  prayer,  the  formal  hymn  of  praise 
must  become  the  constant  life  of  service,  and  the  oc- 
casional Scripture  reading  must  be  annotated  with  the 
daily  deed.  Keep  the  old  forms  if  we  can  and  will, 
but  the  new  life  is  imperative.  Thus  is  provided  a 
constant  religious  environment  in  which  the  good 
heredity  may  thrive. 
Religious  And  third,  the  home  must  resume  the  work  of  definite 

Instruction.  .  .  .  .,  _., 

religious  instruction  of  children.  The  strength  of  the 
father  and  the  tenderness  of  the  mother  must  go  into 
the  work  of  imparting  Christian  truth.  Best  of  all 
teachers  can  these  two  secure  that  the  children  assimi- 
late religious  truth  with  feelings  and  will  as  well  as 
with  intellect,  that  there  be  receptive  hearts  as  well  as 
minds,  that  souls  grow  in  the  light  that  they  receive. 
One  of  the  sacred  purposes  cherished  by  parenthood 
should  be  the  definite  and  systematic  religious  instruc- 
tion of  childhood.  The  child  is  to  be  fed,  to  be  clothed, 
to  be  sent  to  school,  to  be  loved ;  he  is  also  to  be  in- 
structed in  religion.  Why  will  parents  spend  their 
money  on  their  children  for  things  that  satisfy  not, 
and  withhold  from  them  the  religious  culture  that 
satisfieth?  These  earthly  things  we  ought  to  do,  and 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      377 

not  leave  undone  the  heavenly  things.  Parents  must 
incorporate  into  their  conception  of  their  duty  to  their 
children  that  of  an  adequate  religious  instruction. 
Children  have  the  right  to  be  brought  up  by  their 
parents  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord. 

By  these  three  ways  will  the  home  get  possession  of 
the  influences  of  heredity,  environment,  and  will  for  the 
good  of  children  and  in  the  interest  of  practical  religion. 
For  the  parent  reading  these  pages,  in  whom  perhaps 
the  resolution  is  shaping  itself  for  a  stricter  following 
of  religious  duty  in  the  home,  questions  at  once  arise 
concerning  the  content,  method,  and  aim  of  religious 
instruction  in  the  home,  each  of  which  we  may  briefly 

consider. 

* 

What  is  the  minimum  content  of  the  religious  in-  The  Content 

0  of  Religious 

struction  parents  should  give  their  children?    Not  less  instruction 
than  these  few  great  things.    The  presence  at  all  times  in  the  Home 
of  a  Heavenly  Father  who  loves  children,  who  wants 
children  to  love  Him,  and  who  is  grieved  but  not 
angered  when  they  do  wrong. 

The  sign  of  the  real  presence  of  the  Heavenly  Father 
in  the  conscious  sense  of  right,  in  the  natural  love  of 
truth,  in  all  enjoyment  of  beautiful  things,  and  in  the 
pleasures  of  childhood. 

The  value  of  the  life  of  children,  or  of  any  one, 
depends  upon  the  loving  of  all  those  things  that  the 
Father  loves,  and  growing  daily  into  conformity  with 
His  will  for  us. 

Our  love  to  Him  can  best  be  shown  by  loving  our 
brothers  and  sisters,  our  parents  and  relatives,  our 


378     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

friends  and  neighbors,  our  companions  and  playmates, 
and  everybody  everywhere. 

The  life  among  men  approved  unto  God  as  worthy 
all  acceptation  and  shewing  forth  the  nature  of  God 
is  Jesus,  the  lover  and  saviour  of  children  and  men. 

And  when  a  member  of  the  household,  or  a  friend, 
falls  on  sleep,  the  thought  that  these  still  live  in  another 
and  larger  room  in  the  Father's  house. 

Thus  simply  and  naturally  may  the  great  truths  of 
the  Christian  religion,  God,  freedom,  and  immortality, 
the  incarnation  and  the  atonement,  liberty,  equality, 
and  fraternity,  grow  into  and  out  of  the  child's  life  in 
the  home.  Such  simple  great  views  of  life  as  these  a 
multitude  of  parents  in  the  land,  professing  no  Christian 
affiliation,  might  impart  to  their  trusting  children. 

The  Method       What   shall  be   the   method   of  such  nurture   and 

of  Religious  . 

instruction     admonition  ?    Not  less  than  these  four  things.     First, 

m  the  Home.  ^^  reijgjous  truth  must  be  taught  in  a  way  suitable 
to  the  comprehension  of  the  particular  child.  No  one 
quite  so  well  as  a  parent  knows  how  children,  even  of 
the  same  family,  differ  from  each  other.  The  truth 
must  be  presented  to  each  one  according  to  his  capacity 

Adjusted  to  receive  it.  If  this  is  done,  if  the  child  has  really 
understood  the  religious  idea,  then,  according  to  the 
principle  of  ideo-motor  action,  the  truth  will  tend  to 
act  itself  out  spontaneously  in  word  and  deed. 

Action"'*  Second,  the  child  must  do  religious  things,  whether 

at  first  he  understands  their  full  import  or  not.  As 
Pascal  observed,  II  ]aut  s'aMtir.  In  the  interest  of 
the  religious  life  of  the  child,  better  his  doing  one 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      379 

religious  deed  than  learning  many  religious  truths. 
Flowers  to  the  sick,  dividing  good  things  with  others, 
surrendering  one's  toys  to  visitors,  kindness  to  the  aged, 
sympathy  for  an  afflicted  child,  or  even  the  more  formal 
things  of  bowing  in  prayer,  early  church  attendance 
where  there  are  pretty  windows,  good  music,  and  words 
for  children  in  the  sermon,  abstinence  from  certain 
games  on  Sunday,  —  these  motor  responses  in  religious 
ways  form  the  muscular  habits  which  are  the  physical 
foundation  of  the  higher  life.  Sensory  impressions 
without  motor  responses  are  the  sounding  brass  and 
the  tinkling  cymbal  in  all  education,  public  and  private, 
from  Socrates  who  said  that  knowledge  is  virtue,  from 
Cicero  who  said  that  to  think  is  to  live,  even  to  the 
modern  stuffing  of  the  minds  of  children  with  informa- 
tion. There  must  be  doing  in  addition  to  knowing, 
particularly  children  must  learn  to  know  religion  by 
doing  what  it  prompts. 

Third,  the  home  must  be  supplied  with  the  best  Religious 
religious  literature  of  human  experience.  Bible  stories 
for  young  children,  Bible  history  for  older  children, 
the  lives  of  the  saints,  the  confessions  of  St.  Augustine, 
the  history  of  the  church,  the  growth  of  Christian  mis- 
sions, —  all  ending  in  simple  apprehension  of  the  essen- 
tial elements  of  the  Christian  gospel.  The  home  needs 
really  a  curriculum  in  religion  for  reading  and  study, 
under  parental  supervision  and  direction,  in  harmony 
with  that  provided  by  the  Sunday  School,  and  according 
to  the  growing  interests  of  children.  Not  burdensome 
but  delightful  will  the  pursuit  of  such  a  curriculum  prove, 
with  parents  as  teachers  and  their  children  as  pupils. 


380     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Religious  And  fourth,  parents  must  be  in  all  things  lovely  and 

of  good  report  what  they  want  their  children  to  become. 
The  boy  in  the  end  does  as  father  does,  not  as  father 
says.  The  mother's  practice  in  the  end,  not  her  words, 
wins  the  girl.  Social  heredity  is  as  real  an  influence  as 
physical  heredity.  Imitation  is  the  great  law  of  grow- 
ing life.  Children  must  find  the  lives  of  parents  an- 
other incarnation  of  the  truth  of  God. 

Religious  ideas,  religious  action,  religious  literature, 
religious  models,  — these  at  least  are  essential  methods 
in  an  adequate  religious  education  of  children  in  the 
home. 

The  Aim  of  It  remains  only  to  refer  to  the  aim  of  religious  educa- 
Educathm  in  tion  in  the  home.  It  is  practical ;  it  is  the  cultivation 
the  Home.  of  ^g  ha,bit  of  religion  in  life;  it  is  to  give  the  dis- 
position of  the  child  that  acquaintanceship  with  reli- 
gious life  that  later  will  control  the  man;  it  is  the 
growth  of  children  in  God  toward  God.  This  aim 
we  find  in  the  realization  of  those  words  of  Mr.  Moody, 
"We  might  train  them  that  they  shall  be  converted  so 
early  they  can't  tell  when  they  were  converted;"  or 
in  those  earlier  words  of  Horace  Bushnell,  recovered  to 
us  by  Professor  Coe,  "A  child  is  to  grow  up  a  Christian 
and  never  know  himself  as  being  otherwise."  Such  an 
aim  is  to  join  with  Jesus  Christ  in  the  enthronement  of 
little  children  as  religious  beings  when  he  spoke  the 
words  that  emancipate  childhood,  "Suffer  little  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Thus,  all  told,  will  religious  education  in  the  home 


Religious  Education  in  the  Home      381 

become  the  guaranty  of  the  value  of  the  home  as  a 
social  institution,  and  a  remedy  for  its  present  im- 
minent dangers.  Begin  now,  parents,  this  happy  and 
profitable  labor ;  seize  the  chances,  teachers  and  minis- 
ters, to  deliver  this  message  to  parents.  It  will  remain 
the  message  of  the  hour  until  it  is  heeded.  In  the  words 
of  Dr.  Henry  Ware,  "To  Adam,  Paradise  was  home. 
To  the  good  among  his  descendants,  home  is  paradise." 

REFERENCES  ON  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  HOME 

Briggs,  School,  College,  and  Character,  I. 
Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  ch.  XVI. 
Collar  and  Crook,  School  Management  and   Methods  of  In- 
struction, ch.  I. 

Dutton,  Social  Phases  of  Education,  I. 
Griggs,  Moral  Education,  XVII. 
Hall,  The  Place  of  Formal  Instruction  in  Religious  and  Moral 

Education  in  the  Home,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1905. 
Hanus,  A  Modern  School,  V. 
Henderson,  The  Part  of  the  Home  in  Religious  Education,  Proc. 

R.  E.  A.,  1905. 
Landrith,    The    Religious    Opportunity  of    the    Home,    Proc. 

R.  E.  A.,  1904. 

MacCunn,  The  Making  of  Character,  Part  II,  ch.  IV. 
Mark,  Individuality  and  the  Moral  Aim  in  American  Education, 

ch.  X. 
Stewart,  Religious  and  Moral  Education   through  the  Home, 

Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1903. 

Wells,  The  Parent  Problem,  School  Review,  1905. 
Winchester,  Literature  as  a  Means  of  Religious  Education  in 

the  Home,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1904. 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

IN  touching  this  subject,  a  vein  of  negative  attitude 
will  appear  for  the  first  time  in  our  discussions.  This 
seems  to  me  to  be  necessary  at  present  in  view  of  the 
conditions  that  confront  us.  Along  with  the  negative 
attitude,  however,  I  have  defended  certain  positive 
positions  which  will,  to  a  degree,  I  trust,  atone  for 
the  always  unwelcome  element  of  polemics,  and  at 
the  same  time  these  positive  positions  seem  to  me  the 
very  best  way  of  attaining  the  results  which  the  people 
I  oppose  desire.  After  the  preceding  discussions, 
nobody  will  accuse  me  of  indifference  to  the  cause 
of  religious  education.  But  the  zeal  that  defends  the 
cause  of  religious  education  in  America  to-day  must 
be  discriminating  and  sympathetic,  especially  where 
the  interests  of  our  public  school  system  are  involved. 
The  two  questions  I  wish  to  discuss  are  religious  teach- 
ing and  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools.1 

The  first  question  is,  Ought  there  to  be  any  religious 
teaching  in  the  public  schools? 

In  introducing  the  discussion  of  this  question,  I  wish 

1  Cf.   my  papers  on  these   subjects,  respectively  in  Proceedings 
Religious  Education  Association,  1904,  Biblical  World,  January,  1906. 
Also  my  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  pp.  123-127. 
382 


Religious  Education  in  the  Public  School  383 
to  draw  a  distinction  that  really  exists  between  "reli-  A 

,.    .  _.    ..    .  .  Distinction. 

gious  teaching  and  religion.  Religious  teaching  has 
for  its  object  the  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  pupils 
of  certain  religious  truths.  Religion  itself  is  a  life  in 
God.  The  one  is  formal  and  intellectual;  the  other 
is  real  and  vital.  It  is  possible  to  teach  religious  truths 
without  being  religious  and  without  the  pupils  becom- 
ing religious.  It  is  possible  to  be  religious  and  to 
have  one's  pupils  become  religious  without  teaching 
religious  truths.  Those  who  favor  religious  teaching 
in  the  public  schools  may  be  favoring  really  nothing 
more  than  the  intellectualizing  of  the  religious  expe- 
rience of  other  persons.  Those  who  oppose  religious 
teaching  in  the  public  schools  may  be  favoring  really 
the  healthy  growth  of  unanalyzed  religious  sentiment 
in  the  pupils  themselves. 

With  this  distinction  in  mind,  I  wish  to  defend,  Thesis, 
as  the  answer  to  our  question,  this  thesis :  what  the 
public  schools  under  our  form  of  government  need 
is  not  teachers  of  religion,  but  religious  teachers;  is 
not  religious  instruction,  but  religious  living;  is  not 
"religious  teaching,"  but  teaching  religiously. 

This  thesis,  I  am  free  to  confess,  is  one  to  which  I 
have  come  after  having  held,  and  actually  advocated, 
the  contradictory  one  that  the  public  school  curric- 
ulum should  teach  religion,  with  the  Bible  as  the  text. 
This  latter  proposition  now  seems  to  me  insuperably 
difficult  to  practise.  And  I  will  attempt  to  state  my 
reasons  for  change  of  front. 

To  show,  first,  our  public  schools  do  not  need  "reli- 


384     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The 

Historical 

Argument. 


The  Gov- 
ernmental 
Argument. 


gious  teaching."  There  is  an  historical  reason.  A 
nation  must  respect  its  history  as  men  respect  their 
parents.  During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, when  the  religious  sects  began  to  multiply,  the 
teaching  of  religion  was  taken  out  of  the  public  schools. 
This  was  done  that  no  religious  sect  might  propagate 
its  tenets  through  the  school  influence,  that  the  birth- 
right of  liberty  of  conscience  of  Americans  be  not  in- 
fringed, that  the  cause  of  a  sound  and  various  learning 
suffer  not  at  the  hands  of  denominationalism,  and 
that  society  might  have  in  its  midst  at  least  one  unify- 
ing educative  agency.  These  historical  reasons  are 
still  potent  today. 

In  the  case  of  America  there  is  a  governmental 
reason  for  the  absence  of  anything  like  religious  instruc- 
tion in  our  public  schools.  So  far  as  this  question  is 
concerned,  there  are  two  principles  supporting  our 
form  of  government,  viz.  the  separation  of  church 
and  state,  and  the  public  education  of  all  youth.  To 
these  two  principles  our  government  is  committed  by 
its  successful,  though  as  yet  short,  national  life;  upon 
them  our  national  experience  has  put  the  seal  of  ap- 
proval. Now,  to  introduce  religious  teaching  into  the 
public  schools  would  contradict  the  principle  of  the 
separation  of  church  and  state.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  deny  the  right  to  exist  of  schools  that  do  not  teach 
religion  is  to  contradict  the  principle  of  public  education 
for  all  American  youth.  These  two  principles  are 
two  of  the  pillars  of  state  upholding  America;  to  pull 
down  either  of  them  will  precipitate  a  national  disaster. 

There    is    also    a    social    reason.     The    democracy 


Religious  Education  in  the  Public  School     385 

would  suffer  by  the  attempt  to  teach  religion  in  the  The  Social 

.  .  .    Argument 

public  schools  in  that  certain  elements  in  society  would 
at  once  withdraw  their  support  from  a  government 
no  longer  religiously  free.  To-day  the  public  school 
is  the  great  preserver  of  that  homogeneity  in  society 
necessary  to  a  democracy.  It  would  cease  to  be  so 
the  moment  it  began  to  teach  religion.  It  would  not 
subserve  the  best  interests  of  the  democracy  for  all 
Catholics  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  public  schools 
and  taught  in  the  parochial  schools.  This  would 
occur  if  any  form  of  Protestantism  were  taught  in  the 
public  schools,  and  justifiably  so,  for  it  is  not  right 
in  a  religiously  free  country  to  tax  a  Catholic  father 
to  teach  his  son  Protestant  doctrine.  Neither  would 
it  be  right  to  tax  a  Protestant  father  to  teach  his  son 
some  other  form  of  Protestant  doctrine  than  his  own. 
Needless  is  it  to  refer  to  the  attitude  of  the  great  un- 
churched elements  in  America.  Under  the  stress 
of  formal  religious  teaching,  the  public  school  could 
no  longer  preserve  the  unity  of  American  society. 
Indeed,  the  public  school  system  itself  could  survive 
only  in  weakened  form,  if  at  all,  these  disintegrating 
forces.  A  public  school  system  can  teach  religion  and 
survive  only  where  there  is  a  state  religion  to  teach. 

There  is  also  a  natural  reason  for  not  teaching  re-  The  Natura- 

Argument. 

ligious  truths  in  the  public  schools.  There  is  no  avail- 
able text  embodying  the  essential  universal  truths  of 
religious  experience.  There  is  a  physics,  a  chemistry, 
and  a  biology,  a  mathematics,  a  literature,  and  a 
history;  but  there  is  not  similarly  a  theology.  His- 
tory is  most  like  theology  in  presenting  a  variety  of 

2C 


386     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

interpretations,  but  the  interest  of  the  public  is  not 
quick  in  the  dissensions  of  historical  opinion  as  in  those 
of  religious  opinion.  We  have  not,  nor  are  we  likely  to 
have,  an  available  text  in  religion.  To  reduce  religion 
to  its  lowest  terms  and  teach  the  residuum  as  religion 
will  satisfy  no  religious  man  and  no  religious  sect.  To 
teach  the  religious  truths  of  any  sect  is  to  dissatisfy 
naturally  the  others.  Select  any  religious  truth,  or  any 
body  of  religious  truths  that  one  will,  attempt  to  teach 
it,  and  the  majority  of  the  community  will  not  sup- 
port you.  Some  of  the  majority  will  say,  you  are  teach- 
ing too  much;  some  of  the  majority  will  say,  you  are 
teaching  too  little.  This  is  true  of  no  other  subject  to 
the  degree  in  which  it  is  true  of  religion.  In  teaching 
religious  truths  the  majority  rule  does  not  hold;  there 
is  no  majority  in  the  community  that  want  any  one 
religious  system  taught.  But  the  public  school  is  the 
servant  of  all.  In  the  face  of  these  difficulties  I  dare 
not  name  any  body  of  religious  teaching  that  can  find 
a  place  in  the  public  school. 

The  There  is  a  religious  reason,  also.     It  is  really  in  the 

Argument,  interest  of  religion  that  many  people  are  wanting  the 
public  school  to  teach  religion.  No  one  seems  to  be 
urging  the  teaching  of  religion  on  the  ground  of  its 
educational  value,  though  it  has  supreme  educational 
value,  nor  on  the  ground  that  the  curriculum  needs 
further  enrichment,  nor  on  the  ground  that  pupils  are 
not  sufficiently  occupied.  Nothing  practically  but  an 
interest  in  promoting  religion  is  at  the  basis  of  the  de- 
mand for  the  teaching  of  religion  in  the  public  schools. 
Now,  the  public  school  can  promote  the  interests  of 


Religious   Education  in  the   Public  School     387 

religion  in  a  more  excellent  way  than  by  attempting  to 
teach  it,  that  is,  by  living  it.  Here  we  reach  the  second 
part  of  our  thesis:  our  public  schools  simply  need 
religious  teachers. 

There  is  no  occasion  to  seek  far  for  a  definition  of  T^6 

Religious 

the  religious  teacher.  We  say  enough  when  we  say  Teacher  the 
the  religious  teacher  is  one  who  is  conscious  of  God  in  Solution- 
his  work.  Neither  is  there  need  of  much  argument  to 
prove  that  a  religious  teacher  would  serve  the  interests 
of  religion  better  in  American  public  schools  than  a 
teacher  of  religion.  Perhaps  no  observer  of  the  effects 
of  teaching  religion  in  state  schools  in  Germany  and 
England  would  prefer  to  see  those  systems  adopted  in 
America;  some  such  observers  come  away  extremists, 
ready  to  exclude  religious  teaching  from  other  institu- 
tions than  the  public  school.  The  gist  of  the  argument 
may  be  stated  thus :  religious  teaching  in  state  schools 
usually  ends  in  secularizing  religion;  the  religious 
teacher  in  state  schools  would  tend  to  make  all  things 
sacred.  In  writing  on  religious  teaching  in  the  home 
and  church,  instead  of  in  the  public  school,  it  is  right 
to  stress  the  necessity  of  combining  the  two,  which  is 
the  ideal.  Meanwhile,  we  may  safely  leave  the  interests 
of  religion  in  the  public  schools  in  the  keeping  of  reli- 
gious teachers,  simply  urging  upon  school  boards  the 
duty,  without  applying  any  doctrinal  tests  whatever,  of 
selecting  those  teachers  whose  lives  convey  the  religious 
stimulus  to  the  young  lives  about  them.  Where  life 
thus  gives  life  the  religious  touch  it  will  not  be  neces- 
sary that  lips  teach  the  religious  truth. 


388     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Public 
School  an 
Actual 
Religious 

Influence. 


The 

Importance 
of  Religion. 


Far  be  it  from  me  to  imply  that  the  public  schools 
do  not  already  have  religious  teachers.  To  call  the 
public  school  system  of  America  "godless"  is  as  untrue 
as  it  is  unkind;  it  is  to  repeat  the  very  old  mistake  of 
identifying  the  letter  with  the  spirit.  On  the  contrary, 
the  public  school  system  is  a  tremendous  religious  in- 
fluence in  the  life  of  the  nation.  It  has  not  single- 
handed  regenerated  human  society,  as  some  of  its 
critics  have  seemed  to  expect  of  it,  but  it  has  presented 
us  with  the  spectacle  of  a  consecrated  body  of  men, 
and  particularly  women,  unsurpassed  during  the 
centuries  for  genuine  and  unselfish  social  service.  By 
its  fruits,  college  presidents  say,1  it  shows  itself  not  in- 
ferior to  private  and  church  schools  in  developing 
worthy  character.  Despite  his  critics  the  public  school 
teacher  is  not  to  think  he  is  doing  less  than  his  duty 
because  he  is  not  teaching  religion;  his  only  care  is 
that  he  teach  religiously. 

By  two  things  may  we  steady  ourselves  for  the  re- 
ligious performance  of  our  schoolroom  task.  In  the 
first  place,  the  public  school  teacher,  as  every  teacher 
of  the  world's  youth,  needs  to  recognize  that  religion  is 
the  most  important  element  in  human  life.  In  religion 
man  comes  into  relation  with  God,  the  most  real  Being. 
Nothing  is  so  important  to  man  as  the  right  recognition 
of  this  relation.  To  enter  fully  into  this  relationship 
is  to  disclose  the  widest  human  possibilities,  to  open  up 
the  deepest  springs  of  human  nature,  and  to  save  the 
total  individual  and  social  life.  In  being  religious, 
that  is,  in  practising  the  presence  of  God  in  the  work  of 
1  The  Outlook,  Vol.  75,  No.  n. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Public  School     389 

the  schoolroom,  the  American  teacher  may  feel  that  he 
is  what  his  pupils  ought  to  become. 

In  the  second  place,  it  strengthens  the  teacher  to  ™e  Un|- 

11  i    i  •  M         i«i  i  versality  of 

remember  that  he  and  his  pupils  alike  are  by  nature  Religion. 
religious.  To  seek  the  Great  Companion,  the  Ideal 
Person,  to  feel  at  one  with  Him,  to  think  His  thoughts,  — 
these  are  universal  human  aspirations.  The  youth  of 
the  land  in  whom  the  springs  of  life  are  welling  up  are 
unavoidably  religious.  Human  nature  is  built  on  the 
religious  basis.  All  nations  and  all  normal  men  are 
religious,  that  is,  are  conscious  of  an  Invisible  Presence. 
Hence  the  teacher  may  be  sure  that  if  he  lets  his  life 
show  forth  the  Divine  Presence,  he  will  thereby 
quicken  a  response  in  the  life  of  the  pupil.  In  being 
religious  at  their  work,  American  teachers  may  feel 
that,  under  the  laws  of  imitation  and  social  suggestion, 
their  pupils  will  develop  their  religious  natures. 

Thus  is  defended  our  thesis,  not  the  teacher  of  re-  General 
ligion  but  the  religious  teacher  in  the  American  public 


school.    This  thesis  is  not  new  ;  many  others  have  been  Religi°us 

,   .  ,          i        i       •         f     i          .  Teaching  in 

driven  by  the  logic  of  the  situation  to  a  similar  con-  the  Public 
elusion.  In  illustration  let  me  quote  the  following  SchooL 
words  from  Dr.  Behrends,  spoken  over  two  decades 
ago,  and  defended  by  him  on  historical,  patriotic,  and 
moral  grounds:  "The  main  position  I  take  then  is 
that  while  religious  teaching  is  not  the  business  of  the 
public  school,  the  school  is  false  to  life,  and  thereby 
false  to  itself,  if  it  is  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  indiffer- 
ence or  of  hostility  to  religion.  Implicitly,  in  tone, 
temper,  and  trend,  though  not  explicitly,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  text-books  and  formal  instruction,  our  public 


390     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

schools  should  be  definitely  and  positively  religious  and 
Christian."  l 

The  Use  of         xhe  second  question  that  was  to  occupy  us  is,  What 

the  Bible  in 

the  Public  use  may  be  made  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  ? 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  usage  is  far  from  uniform  in 
different  states,  or  even  in  different  communities  of 
the  same  state,  being  governed  largely  by  local  senti- 
ment. In  the  majority  of  states  the  usage  is  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  school  authorities,  the  law  saying 
nothing  concerning  it.  The  following  summary 2  indi- 
cates the  situation  :  "The  Bible  is  read  and  the  Lord's 
Prayer  repeated  very  generally  in  the  schools  of  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  District  of  Colum- 
bia, Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina, 
Florida,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Texas,  Arkansas,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Montana,  Wyo- 
ming, and  Colorado. 

"  There  are  laws  or  rulings  in  the  following  states 
forbidding  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  from  schools: 
West  Virginia,  Georgia,  Missouri,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Iowa,  North  and  South  Dakota,  and  New  York.  In 
several  states  the  law  excuses  pupils  from  taking  part 
in  religious  exercises  where  the  parents  object. 

"  In  a  number  of  states  Bible  reading  without  sectarian 
instruction  or  any  note  or  comment  is  provided  for, 

1  "What  Place,  if  Any,  is  Religion  entitled  to  in  our  System  of 
Public  Education?"     A  paper  read  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Instruction,  at  Saratoga,  July  13,  1882,  by  A.  J.  F.  Behrends. 

2  Texas  School  Journal,  March,  1903. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Public  School     391 

including  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Wisconsin,  Min- 
nesota, and  North  and  South  Dakota.  The  decisions 
as  to  whether  the  reading  of  the  Bible  is  sectarian  in- 
struction are  neither  clear  nor  consistent,  and  even  in 
states  where  decisions  have  been  made  the  question  is 
left  largely  open. 

"  The  use  of  the  Bible  in  schools  is  prohibited,  more  or 
less  positively,  in  Louisiana,  California,  Utah,  Washing- 
ton, Nevada,  Idaho,  and  Oregon." 

First,  let  us  distinguish  between  the  two  uses  —  and  T116  Two 

1  i  r  i-iii-..ii«i«  i      Possible 

there  are  but  two  —  for  which  the  Bible  is  bemg  ad-  uses, 
vocated  in  the  public  schools.  The  Bible  may  be  read 
in  an  opening  religious  exercise,  without  note  or  com- 
ment; this  is  the  devotional  use.  Or  it  may  form 
a  basis  of  instruction  for  courses  in  (i)  religion, 
(2)  morals,  (3)  biblical  literature,  (4)  biblical  history; 
this  is  the  academic  use.  Perhaps  these  four  constitute 
the  only  academic  uses  for  which  the  Bible  has  been 
urged,  but  for  these  four  in  various  combinations  the 
demands  are  many  and  insistent. 

Now  the  thesis  I  should  like  to  defend  is,  the  place  of  Tllc  Thesis, 
the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  is  devotional,  not  aca- 
demic. This  thesis  has  both  many  advocates  and 
many  opponents.  It  is  opposed  alike  by 'those  loyal 
and  zealous  Christian  people  who  want  both  the  de- 
votional and  the  academic  use,  by  those  who,  in  the 
interest  of  human  culture,  want  at  least  the  academic 
use,  and  by  the  extreme  opponents  who  want  neither. 
My  answer  to  the  opponents  will  be  suggested  in 
defence  of  the  proposed  thesis. 


392     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Defence  of 
the  Devo- 
tional Use. 


A  Present 
Need. 


There  are  two  parts  to  the  thesis;  positively,  the 
Bible  should  have  a  devotional  use  in  the  public  schools ; 
negatively,  it  should  not  have  an  academic  use. 

The  Bible  should  have  a  devotional  use  in  the  public 
schools.  This  means  to  read  it  well  in  an  opening 
religious  exercise,  preferably  with  the  school  responding, 
and  to  let  it  thus  read  be  its  own  message  of  inspiration 
to  the  heart  of  the  school.  All  religious- minded  people 
whatsoever  will  appreciate  the  value  of  such  a  use.  It 
introduces  the  sense  of  the  eternal  into  things  temporal, 
it  nourishes  the  immanent  spiritual  life  of  the  individual 
pupil  and  of  the  social  whole,  it  transfigures  human 
things  with  a  divine  light,  and  it  makes  souls  strong 
in  the  confidence  of  a  present  God.  Such  a  devotional 
use  is  not  instruction  in  religious  truth ;  it  is  the  quick- 
ening of  religious  life.  In  a  Christian  democracy 
whose  large  majority  believes  that  God  is  redeeming 
human  society,  the  devotional  reading  in  the  public 
schools,  where  future  citizens  are  making,  of  the  Book 
that  reveals  His  Nature  and  Presence  is  logical,  equi- 
table, and  desirable. 

To  unite  American  Christian  people,  of  whatsoever 
faith  and  order,  in  the  support  of  such  use  of  the  Bible 
in  the  public  schools  is  a  great  and  pressing  present 
need,  to  serve  which  need  minor  differences  may  well 
be  merged.  To  forward  this  unity,  books  of  biblical 
selections  for  reading  in  schools  are  in  preparation, 
whose  simply  religious  nature,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
hope,  will  unite  all,  and  offend  none,  of  the  bodies  of 
Christian  believers.  Meanwhile,  it  would  be  gratify- 
ing to  see  the  Douay  Version  used  where  the  majority 


Religious  Education  in  the  Public  School     393 

of  the  pupils  are  Catholic,  the  King  James  Version 
where  the  majority  are  Protestant,  and  the  Old  Testa- 
ment where  the  majority  are  Jews. 
To  this  devotional  use  of  the  Bible  there  are  but  two  objections 

,..  •       /   \         e  e     i  •  i    •  Considered 

objections,  viz.  (i)  a  few  states  forbid  it  by  law,  and 
(2)  it  does  not  satisfy  the  various  small,  but  audible, 
classes  of  freethinkers.  In  reply  to  the  first,  it  is 
essential  to  recognize  the  great  and,  in  our  day,  sur- 
passing influence  of  public  opinion.  Once  all  the 
Christian  voices  are  united  in  the  cry,  "The  Bible  for 
Devotion  in  the  Schools,"  the  laws  can  be  unmade  as 
easily  as  they  were  made. 

The  freethinker,  also,  is  to  be  recognized  in  a 
Christian  way.  The  devotional  exercise  in  the  public 
schools,  not  simply  out  of  concession  to  him,  but  in 
keeping  with  the  very  genius  of  religion,  will  not  be 
compulsory  for  children  whose  parents  object.  It  will 
have  only  the  support  of  the  spirit  made  free  by  the 
Son.  No  freethinker  can  consistently  object  to  a  free 
religious  exercise.  In  the  maintenance  of  such  an 
exercise,  the  Christian  patrons  must  heartily  cooperate 
with  the  school  authorities. 

This,  then,  is  the  positive  part  of  our  thesis,  which 
would  plant  the  simply  religious  life  of  the  Bible  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  public  school.  Now  for  the 
second  position,  and  perhaps  the  more  difficult  one  to 
defend,  though  I  feel  convinced  it  is  equally  defensible. 
I  should  like  to  carry  on  with  me  the  many  who  so 
far  find  themselves  in  practical  agreement. 

The  Bible  should  not  have  an  academic  use  in  the 


394     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


The  Aca- 
demic Use 
opposed. 


Biblical 
Literature. 


public  schools.  That  is,  it  should  not  be  used  as  a 
basis  for  courses  in  instruction  in  literature,  history, 
morals,  or  religion.  My  argument  here  will  take  this 
form:  biblical  literature,  history,  and  morals  cannot 
be  truly  taught  without  teaching  religious  truths, 
and  American  public  schools  ought  not  to  under- 
take to  teach  religious  truths.  To  take  the  subjects 
in  order. 

Literature  is  great  only  when  it  is  the  vesture  of 
great  truths;  it  is  debased  and  hollow  when  its  forms 
engross  attention  to  the  exclusion  of  its  content.  The 
surpassing  greatness  of  biblical  literature  is  in  its 
union  of  religious  truth  and  outward  expression.  There- 
fore to  teach  biblical  literature  truly  is  to  teach  the 
religious  truth  it  expresses.  One  can  as  little  teach 
Richard  III  without  reference  to  ambition  as  Job 
without  reference  to  the  presence  of  evil  in  righteous 
lives.  This  latter  reference  will  be  either  formal, 
making  literature  an  empty  shell,  or  it  will  attempt  to 
suggest  the  answer  to  the  problem  which  the  drama 
discusses,  making  literature  real  and  vital.  But  the 
answer  is  a  religious  answer,  and  the  religious  sects 
disagree  as  to  what  that  answer  is,  particularly  when 
biblical  scholars  are  inclined  to  eliminate  the  last 
chapters  as  not  a  part  of  the  original  solution.  This 
is  sufficient  to  indicate  how  real  teaching  of  the  Bible 
as  literature  will  involve  necessarily  the  teaching  of 
religious  truth  as  the  teacher  apprehends  it,  with  all 
the  consequent  controversies  with  which  religious  his- 
tory is  filled. 

Similarly,  to  teach  biblical  history  will  necessarily 


Religious  Education  in  the  Public  School     395 

lead  to  teaching  religious  truths ;  for  biblical  history  is  History, 
religious  history.  It  is  an  unpractical  abstraction  to 
attempt  to  separate  academic  Israelitish  history  from 
religious  Israelitish  history.  To  omit  Jehovah  is  to 
fail  to  explain  Israel;  to  include  Jehovah  is  to  teach 
religious  positions  concerning  which  the  sects  of  Judaism 
and  Christianity  are  at  great  variance.  Besides,  there 
is  an  almost  insuperable  difficulty  at  present  in  making 
out  the  curriculum  in  biblical  history.  The  great 
majority  of  Christian  people  and  the  modern  scholars 
are  not  in  agreement  as  to  the  sense  in  which  the  books 
of  Moses,  for  example,  are  historical,  or  as  to  whether 
Daniel  was  a  prophet. 

The  case  is  not  different  in  teaching  morals  from  the  Morals. 
Bible.  The  biblical  basis  and  sanction  of  morality  is 
religion.  Jehovah  is  there  presented  as  the  Author  of 
the  Decalogue.  Modern  ethical  writers  are  practically 
agreed  that  religion  is  the  basis  of  morals.  To  teach 
morals  truly,  then,  is  to  teach  religious  truths  con- 
cerning man's  relation  to  God. 

We  reach  this  conclusion,  then,  that  any  academic 
use  of  the  Bible  whatever,  short  of  superficial,  necessi- 
tates the  teaching  of  religious  truths.  Now,  then,  our 
issue  is  narrowed  to  the  simple  question,  Why  not  teach 
religious  truths?  and  as  such  is  identical  with  our  first 
question,  which  has  already  received  a  negative  answer. 

And  our  total  conclusion  is,  for  American  public  Conclusions, 
schools,  not  teachers  of  religion,  but  religious  teachers, 
and  not  the  academic,  but  the  devotional,  use  of  the 
Bible,  —  a  conclusion  which,  in  accord  with  both  true 
Americanism  and  pure  religion,  excludes  the  killing 


396     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

letter  of  religious  teaching  to  make  room  for  the  free 
spirit  of  religious  living. 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  The  English  Education  Act. 

2.  The  Disestablishment  of  the  Church  in  France. 

3.  Effects  of  Religious  Instruction  in  German  Schools. 


Bell,  Religious  Teaching  in  Secondary  Schools. 

Bishop,  The  Moral  Effects  of   Bible    Reading   and   the   Lord's 

Prayer  in  Public  Schools,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1904,  pp.  280-284. 
Carr  and  Thurber,  Religious  and  Moral  Education  through  the 

Public  Schools,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1903,  pp.  124-147. 
Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  ch.  XX. 
Coe,  The  Religious  Spirit  in  the  Secondary  School,  School  Review, 

October,  1905. 
Doan,  Coe,  Tompkins,  O'Shea,  What  May  the  Public  High 

School   do   for  the  Moral  and   Religious  Training  of  its 

Pupils?   Problems  of   Secondary  Education,  Northwestern 

University. 
Harris,  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  1897-1898, 

chs.  XXXI  and  XXXII. 
Harris,  The  Separation  of  the  Church  from  the  Public  School, 

Proc.  N.  E.  A.,  1903,  pp.  351-360. 
Hervey,  Religious  and  Moral  Teaching  in  the  Public  Elementary 

School,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1904,  pp.  311-319. 
Starbuck  and  Arnold,   How  far,  and  How,  can  the  Foundations 

of  Religion  be  laid  in  the  Common  Schools?    Proc.  R.  E.  A., 

1905,  pp.  245-252. 
Tompkins,  Philosophy  of  Teaching,  pp.  270  el  seq. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  CHURCH 

A  CAREFUL  recent  historian  of  education  chronicles  Monroev 

quoted. 

in  his  concluding  chapter  the  following  concerning 
religious  education:  "The  complete  secularization  of 
schools  has  led  to  the  complete  exclusion  of  religious 
elements  in  public  education,  and  the  very  general 
exclusion  of  the  study  or  even  the  use  of  the  Bible  and 
all  religious  literature.  Thus  the  material  that  a  few 
generations  ago  furnished  the  sole  content  of  elementary 
education  is  now  entirely  excluded  and  a  problem  of 
very  great  importance  —  that  of  religious  education  — 
is  presented.  Little  or  no  attempt  at  solution  is  being 
made  and  little  interest  aroused.  .  .  .  One  most  im- 
portant phase  of  education  is  left  to  the  Church  and 
the  home,  neither  of  which  is  doing  much  to  meet  the 
demand."  * 

What  the  home  and  school  should  do  toward  the 
solution  of  this  paramount  and  neglected  problem  we 
have  now  attempted  to  consider,  and  it  remains  to 
view  the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  the  third  of 
the   institutions   particularly   responsible   for   religious 
education,  viz.  the  church.     It  will  give  definiteness  to  Outline 
our  discussion  to  consider  in  succession,  first,  the  prin-  Discussion. 
ciple  upon  which  religious  education  in  the  church  rests; 

1  Monroe,  "Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education,"  p.  750. 
397 


398     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

second,  the  educational  agencies  of  the  church;  and 
third,  some  of  these  agencies  in  particular,  especially 
the  Sunday-school. 

Religious  education  in  the  church  goes  back  for  its 
foundation  to  the  principle  that  all  religion  in  its 
organized  work  is,  or  ought  to  be,  educational  in 
character,  that  is,  should  include  among  the  many 
different  means  it  uses  to  reach  its  ends  also  the  element 
of  instruction,  or  instillation  of  ideas.  This  is  not  to 
identify  religion  with  education ;  least  of  all  to  imagine 
that  the  religion  of  the  educated  is  one  thing  and  of 
the  uneducated  another.  The  principle  simply  affirms 
that  in  the  bringing  up  of  children  and  in  the  spread 
of  religion  through  society  the  church  must  avail  itself 
of  educational  means  as  a  part  of  its  work.  If  the 
principle  is  true,  the  church  to-day  is  capable  of  con- 
siderable improvement  in  following  its  lead.  That  the 
principle  is  true,  three  reasons  may  be  proposed,  viz. 
the  historical,  the  psychological,  and  the  social. 

Historically,  the  founder  of  Christianity  was  teacher 
as  well  as  preacher,  and  the  church  throughout  the  ages, 
with  varying  emphasis,  has  insisted  upon  the  element  of 
religious  instruction  as  a  part  of  its  effort  in  behalf  of 
men.  The  ideas  of  Christ  and  the  teaching  of  the 
church  have  been  prepotent  agencies  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  kingdom.  The  church  has  often  been 
narrow  in  its  attitude  toward  general  and  compre- 
hensive learning,  but  that  there  should  be  learning  in 
religious  matters  on  the  part  of  the  young  it  has  always 
maintained. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Church      399 

Psychologically,  the  instillation  of  ideas  is  necessary 
to  provide  nuclei  about  which  religious  feeling  may 
gather  and  ends  toward  which  religious  practicality 
may  aim.  To  eliminate  right  ideas  from  consciousness 
is  to  give  free  course  to  emotionalism  and  to  make 
effortful  activities  aimless.  The  religiously  taught  in- 
dividual has  both  support  for  feeling  and  ends  for 
action. 

Sociologically,  the  teaching  function  of  the  church  is 
necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  mission  of  the  church. 
Most  simply  stated,  this  mission  is  to  bring  men  indi- 
vidually and  socially  into  that  unity  with  God  which 
Jesus  enjoyed.  Many  things  sometimes  stated  as  the 
prime  mission  of  the  church  are  corollaries  of  this 
account  of  its  function,  such  as,  the  right  settlement  of 
social  problems,  the  unification  of  society  in  a  grand 
interest  comprehensive  of  their  individual  pursuits,  the 
proclamation  of  the  will  of  God,  etc.  In  order  to  fulfil 
its  mission  and  bring  men  into  the  sense  of  unity  with 
God  that  Jesus  enjoyed,  a  ministry  of  ideas  on  the  part 
of  the  church  is  necessary.  Ideas  interpret  to  us  the 
life  of  Jesus,  ideas  bear  His  message  through  the  years, 
ideas  bring  His  mind  to  men.  It  will  go  without  say- 
ing that  ideas  are  not  a  sufficient  means  wherewith 
the  church  may  attain  its  goal,  but  it  needs  to  be  said 
that  ideas  are  an  essential  part  of  any  sufficient  means. 
If  numerous,  broad,  and  generous  ideas  had  been  more 
prominent  in  the  work  of  the  church,  there  had  been 
less  dogmatism,  intolerance,  imitation,  suggestion,  and 
loss  of  individual  self-control  under  revival  influences. 
In  view  of  these  historical,  psychological,  and  socio- 


400     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

logical  considerations,  we  may  confidently  expect  in- 
creasing emphasis  on  the  educational  side  of  the  work 
of  the  church,  both  in  its  new  evangelism  and  in  its 
social  and  missionary  activities. 

The  For  improved  religious  education  in  the  church  there 

Educational  .  i          «         i  • 

Agencies  of  is  hardly  need  of  new  educational  agencies  but  only  of 
the  church.  a  De^er  use  of  existing  ones.  When  we  enumerate  the 
existing  educational  agencies  of  the  church,  we  may  be 
surprised  at  their  number  and  scope.  Not  that  any 
one  of  these  agencies  exists  solely  for  educational  pur- 
poses, but  that  they  each  and  all  admit  of  being  wisely 
used  in  the  spread  of  information  and  ideas.  They 
include  first  of  all  the  pulpit,  together  with  the  church 
service  and  the  silent  influence  of  church  interiors. 
Then  the  Sunday  School,  the  educational  agency  of 
greatest  opportunity  that  the  church  possesses.  Then 
the  mid-week  meeting,  the  great  unused  privilege  of 
the  people  for  study  and  self-expression.  Then  the 
numerous  young  people's  societies  with  their  meetings 
and  programmes.  Then  the  libraries  of  church  and  Sun- 
day School,  so  rapidly  passing  from  a  narrow  pietistic 
to  a  general  literary  character.  And  the  religious  press, 
not  second  to  any  in  moulding  public  opinion,  one  of 
whose  publications  at  least  should  be  a  weekly  visitant 
in  every,  religious  home.  Private  church  schools,  whose 
great  need  is  to  develop  self-control  in  pupils  so  closely 
guarded.  Denominational  colleges,  marching  west- 
ward with  American  civilization,  advancing  and  con- 
serving human  interests.  Theological  seminaries, 
whose  curricula  in  one  generation  have  become  almost 


Religious  Education  in  the  Church      401 

as  wide  as  human  need.  And,  most  instructive  of  all 
to  home  churches,  mission  schools  and  missionaries, 
who  have  learned  the  efficiency,  indeed  the  necessity, 
of  using  educational  means  in  presenting  the  gospel  to 
other  peoples.  This  vast  array  of  instruments  at  the 
educational  service  of  the  church  indicates  that  the 
organization  is  ample ;  what  is  needed  is  its  utilization. 

In  the  space  of  this  chapter  it  is  not  possible  for  us 
to  consider  separately  and  in  detail  each  of  these 
agencies;  rather  I  will  select  three  from  the  list  that 
appear  to  me  particularly  to  need  to  have  stressed 
their  potential  educational  element,  viz.  the  pulpit,  the 
Sunday  School,  and  the  mid-week  meeting. 

The  head  and  heart  of  the  educational  work  of  the  T116 

11-1  ••  <-•  i  11     11  Educational 

church  is  the  minister.  Sooner  or  later  all  the  educa-  work  of  the 
tional  movements  of  his  individual  church  are  inspired  Mlnlster- 
and  directed  by  him.  In  conference  with  his  fellow- 
ministers  the  educational  policy  of  his  branch  of  the 
Christian  church  is  determined.  Within  the  circle  of 
his  immediate  influence,  his  first  business  is  to  organize 
the  educational  work  of  his  church  in  the  interest  of 
economy  and  efficiency.  The  work  that  is  being  done, 
and  any  new  work  to  be  inaugurated,  must  include  the 
educational  clement  for  efficiency,  but  there  must  be 
no  duplication.  Like  the  president  of  a  college,  he 
has  general  supervision  of  his  educational  world. 
Further,  in  his  individual  work  in  the  pulpit,  the  teach- 
ing function  must  appear  both  in  matter  and  in  manner; 
in  matter  something  true  and  instructive  provocative  of 
meditation  on  the  part  of  his  congregation ;  in  manner, 

2D 


402     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

something  for  children  and  youth  as  well  as  for  adults 
must  appear  in  the  sermon.  He  will  probably  find  it 
better  to  have  an  educational  element  running  through 
all  his  sermons  than  to  give  an  occasional  lecture  or  ad- 
dress in  the  endeavor  to  keep  his  people  fairly  abreast  of 
the  established  religious  thought  of  the  day.  Also  he  will 
probably  find  it  better  to  remember  children  and  young 
people  in  all  his  sermons  rather  than  to  have  an  occa- 
sional sermon  for  them.  To  preach  an  occasional 
sermon  to  children  or  young  people  is  to  lead  them  to 
suppose  that  the  usual  sermon  is  not  for  them.  Oc- 
casionalism of  any  kind  may  make  other  times  appear 
insipid  by  contrast.  Again,  it  may  fall  to  the  lot  of 
the  minister,  as  the  most  capable  man,  to  lead  the 
weekly  training  class  of  the  Sunday  School  teachers. 
In  general  the  minister  must  be  a  dynamo  of  ideas  to 
innervate  and  enlighten  the  life  about  him  at  every 
touch  he  gives  it. 
The  Sunday  The  Sunday  School  is  the  one  institution  in  Ameri- 

School.  ...          .  ,  .  ... 

can  Me  whose  avowed  purpose  is  to  teach  religious 
truth.  Other  institutions,  like  the  home,  do  so  in- 
cidentally ;  the  Sunday  School  does  so  principally.  Its 
idea  is  the  union  of  the  religion  of  the  church  with  the 
teaching  of  the  school.  Its  subject-matter  is  religion, 
this  it  takes  from  the  church;  its  method  is  teaching, 
this  it  takes  from  the  school.  Of  all  subject-matters 
religion  is  both  the  most  important '  and  the  worst 
taught;  most  important  because  it  brings  man  into 
relation  with  the  most  real  Being,  worst  taught  per- 
haps both  because  least  understood  and  requiring  most 
from  the  teacher.  The  opportunity  confronting  the 


Religious  Education  in  the  Church      403 

Sunday  School  is  unique  among  educational  institu- 
tions, for  it  has  it  within  its  power  to  combine  the 
best  available  methods  with  the  most  important  sub- 
ject-matter. For  this  reason  this  agency  of  religious 
education  possessed  by  the  church  must  receive  our 
main  consideration. 

What  is  the  aim  of  the  Sunday  School  ?    It  has  just  'Thc  Aim  of 

.   J  the  Sunday 

been  intimated  that  its  aim  is  primarily  educational,  school. 
The  normal  development  of  the  religious  nature  through 
teaching  aright  the  truths  of  God,  —  this  is  the  essential 
aim  of  the  Sunday  School.  These  truths  are  taught 
both  to  growing  and  to  grown  minds.  Few  are  too 
young  to  begin  to  learn,  none  are  too  old  to  learn,  the 
deep  things  of  the  Spirit.  We  need  to  get  and  keep  it 
clearly  in  mind  that  this  institution  is  really  a  school. 
Whether  in  future,  for  the  sake  of  more  dignified  asso- 
ciations, its  name  is  changed  to  the  "Bible  School,"  the 
"Church  School,"  the  "School  of  Religion,"  or  retains 
its  present  time-honored  form,  a  school  it  is  and  must 
remain.  The  sooner  it  adjusts  itself  to  this  primary 
educational  aim,  the  better  will  be  forwarded  that  reli- 
gious education  which  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
provide  for  young  and  old  alike.  In  this  day  of  tran- 
sition from  old  to  new  forms  of  faith,  it  is  imperative 
that  the  rising  generation,  through  information,  in- 
struction, and  study,  acquire  definite  religious  ideas. 
Otherwise  the  thought  element  in  religion  will  be 
absent  a  generation  hence.  The  might  of  this  institu- 
tion is  as  that  of  a  sleeping  giant. 

There  are  certain  genuine  though  secondary  aims  of  Secondary 
the  Sunday  School  that  should  not  be  put  forward  tc 


404     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

the  first  place,  and  whose  fulfilment  will  come  naturally 
as  the  school  hews  to  its  main  line  of  broad  religious 
education.  To  the  educational  aim,  the  catechetical 
aim  of  securing  memoriter  answers  to  set  questions  is 
secondary;  the  teacher  is  not  a  catechist.  Children 
need  to  memorize  more  Scripture  than  they  do,  but 
the  predominant  presence  of  this  secondary  aim  has 
alienated  the  sympathy  of  many  an  adolescent,  par- 
ticularly if  he  were  attending  the  day  school  with  its 
vital  methods  at  the  same  time.  To  the  educational 
aim,  the  homiletical  aim  of  giving  sermonettes  to  the 
class  is  secondary;  the  teacher  is  not  a  preacher. 
The  predominant  presence  of  this  aim  is  particularly 
distasteful  to  those  minds,  and  they  are  legion,  whose 
response  is  greater  as  the  presentation  of  duty  is  in- 
direct and  suggestive.  To  the  educational  aim,  even 
the  evangelistic  aim  of  conversion  is  secondary;  the 
teacher  is  not  a  revivalist.  "  Decision  Day"  is  well,  but 
it  must  come  as  the  shooting  up  of  the  blade,  not  as  the 
plucking  up  of  roots.  It  were  better  named  "Fruition 
Day."  In  attaining  its  primary  aim  of  normal  religious 
development  through  broad  instruction  in  righteous- 
ness, conversion  is  secured  by  the  Sunday  School  as  the 
significant  middle  stage  of  growth  whose  first  stage  is 
found  in  childhood  and  whose  last  stage  crowns  maturity. 
The  Needs  of  To  realize  adequately  its  broad  educational  aim,  the 
School.  a  Sunday  School  stands  in  vital  need  of  a  number  of 
things.  These  things  constitute  the  ideal  toward  which 
we  work;  their  absence  at  present  is  not  an  excuse  for 
despair,  nor  even  ground  for  discouragement,  but  a 
stimulus  to  labor. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Church      405 
The  first  is  the  need  just  hinted  at  above,  viz.  the  The  Religion 

,,..,,  ,  .         of  Children 

recognition  that  a  child  has,  or  may  have,  a  genuine  tobeRecog- 
religious  life  of  its  own,  which  needs  not  so  much  to  be  nized> 
given  to  him  as  developed  within  him. 

The  second  is  a  threefold  need  that  follows  as  an  Grading, 
application  of  the  psychological  doctrine  of  appercep- 
tion to  the  Sunday  School,  viz.  grade  the  pupils,  grade 
the  lessons,  and  grade  the  teachers.  The  grading  of 
pupils  is  their  grouping  not  so  much  according  to  size 
and  age  as  the  stage  of  their  individual  religious  de- 
velopment. The  grading  of  lessons  is  the  adjustment 
of  material  taught  to  the  stage  of  development  of  the 
class  to  be  taught,  and  should  at  least  include  the  four 
divisions  of  kindergarten,  elementary,  secondary,  and 
adult.  The  grading  of  teachers,  or  of  the  method  of 
teaching,  is  to  secure  a  just  regard  in  presenting  the 
lesson  for  the  capacity  of  the  class  to  comprehend. 

The  third  need  is  an  adequate  curriculum;    to  in-  An  Adequate 

,,.,,..  -     ,        Curriculum. 

elude  in  addition  to  a  systematic  presentation  of  the 
Bible,  courses  in  Hebrew  and  Jewish  history ;  the  times 
of  Jesus;  the  biographies  of  the  church  fathers,  saints, 
and  martyrs;  church  history;  the  history  of  doctrine; 
the  growth  of  missions;  ethics;  and  the  religions  of 
the  world.  Only  on  some  such  broad  foundation  in 
knowledge  as  this,  can  the  church  meet  its  obligation 
to  educate  the  people  in  religion.  The  church  is  no 
temporary  institution;  religion  is  no  evanescent 
phenomenon;  both  belong  with  the  verities;  even  a 
superficial  view  of  them  requires  both  books  and  years. 
Suitable  books  covering  these  subjects  need  to  be  written 
by  scholars,  and  then  carefully  mastered  by  teachers. 


406     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Working 
Teachers. 


Adequate 
Time. 


Improved 
Discipline. 


The  fourth  need  is  a  company  of  teachers  who  are 
willing  to  work  and  a  leader  for  them.  As  already  sug- 
gested, the  pastor  may  have  to  lead,  and  direct,  and 
conduct  the  teachers'  meeting.  If  there  be  but  one  per- 
son in  the  midst  whom  the  spirit  of  truth  leads,  the 
whole  accomplishment  is  easy.  Once  the  zeal  of  dis- 
covery of  the  greatest  things  flashes  from  heart  to  heart, 
quickly  there  is  a  body  of  equipped  and  ready  teachers, 
the  dearest  element  of  whose  reward  is  that  they  are 
rendering  a  free  service. 

The  fifth  need  is  adequate  time  for  instruction  in  the 
Sunday  School.  This  question  it  is  now  necessary  to 
face  seriously.  Half  an  hour  a  week  on  Sunday  is 
ridiculously  insufficient  for  such  great  tasks.  It  will 
not  do  to  take  time  allotted  to  the  five  busy  days  of 
the  public  school,  which  has  neither  spare  time  nor 
unimportant  subjects.  Perhaps  we  shall  soon  decide 
that  the  opening  and  closing  exercises  of  the  school 
occupy  an  amount  of  time  beyond  their  due  in  com- 
parison with  the  teaching  period.  Perhaps  we  shall  in 
time  decide  to  ask  the  parents  to  send  their  children  to 
the  churches  Saturday  forenoon  for  religious  instruction. 

And  a  sixth  need,  felt  by  many  officers  and  teachers 
of  the  Sunday  School,  is  an  improvement  in  discipline. 
The  problem  here  is  similar  to  the  one  in  the  public 
school,  and  some  of  the  following  observations  are 
applicable  to  both.1 

What  is  discipline  ?    It  is  the  art  of  securing  and 

1  The  remarks  on  discipline  were  my  contribution,  with  some 
changes,  to  a  symposium  on  the  subject  in  The  Pilgrim  Teacher, 
March,  1904. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Church      407 

maintaining  order.  In  its  first  intent  discipline  is  treat-  Nature  of 
ment  suited  to  a  disciple.  Under  discipline  the  scholar 
becomes  the  disciple  of  the  school  of  which  he  is  a 
member.  In  becoming  a  member  he  implicitly  as- 
sumes the  obligation  to  respect  the  laws  of  the  school. 
Only  through  obedience  to  those  laws  can  the  school 
maintain  itself,  and  so  only  can  the  pupil  justify  his 
continuance  in  the  school.  The  art  of  discipline  im- 
plies thus  the  removal  of  bad  motives  and  habits  lead- 
ing to  disobedience  and  the  substitution  of  good  motives 
and  habits  leading  to  obedience  to  the  school's  economy. 
Manifestly,  discipline  dealing  with  the  motives  to  con- 
duct stands  second  in  importance  only  to  the  teaching 
function  of  the  Sunday  School. 

What  is  the  purpose  of  discipline  in  the  Sunday 
School?  It  is  threefold.  First,  to  secure  that  quiet 
and  orderly  procedure  in  the  movement  of  the  whole 
school  that  permits  good  and  effective  work  on  the 
part  of  all.  Second,  to  develop  that  respect  for  right- 
eous authority,  without  which  the  all-preserving  habit 
of  obedience  to  law  is  impossible.  And  third,  to  culti- 
vate that  power  of  self-control  which  keeps  the  individ- 
ual true  and  character  strong  in  solitude  and  in  society. 

How  may  the  discipline  of  our  Sunday  Schools  be 
unproved  ? 

First.    Every  school  ought  to  move  according  to  a  Suggestions 

.  .  ,      „  for  improving 

definite,  continuous,  though  flexible  order  of  exercises,  Discipline, 
which  gives  ample  time  to  all  essentails,  while  expressly 
excluding    time-consuming,    patience-destroying    non- 
essentials,  like  reminiscences  from  visitors. 
Second.    Through  proper  contrasts  between  song, 


408     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

recital  of  lessons,  orderly  movement  of  classes,  and  quiet 
thought,  every  pupil  should  be  kept  continuously  and 
happily  occupied. 

Third.  The  system  of  prizes  and  penalties,  un- 
desirable necessities  in  dealing  with  all  young  life, 
should  appeal  only  to  permanent,  and  not  to  passing, 
human  motives.  A  prize  should  be  a  surprise,  and  not 
an  incentive.  It  should  emphasize  the  pleasure  con- 
sequent upon  faithful  work,  and  not  be  the  end  to 
which  work  is  the  means.  A  penalty  is  not  the  teacher's 
infliction  but  the  return  of  the  deed  on  the  doer.  The 
Sunday  School  needs  to  adopt  toward  the  unruly  a  more 
stringent  attitude  of  private  appeal,  private  reprimand, 
probation  and,  all  these  failing,  final  dropping  from  the 
company  of  disciples,  as  Jesus  at  last  sent  Judas  away. 
Dr.  Blackall  said  at  the  Chicago  Convention  of  the 
Religious  Education  Association:  "A  sentimental 
notion  prevails  too  generally  that  a  disturber  of  the 
school  must  be  retained  and  his  evil  deeds  tolerated 
or  condoned  at  all  hazards,  in  the  hope  of  his  ultimate 
reclamation.  The  vital  interests  of  the  nine,  or  even 
of  the  ninety-and-nine,  are  often  sacrificed  for  the  good 
that  may  be  gained  to  the  one  who  is  in  fault.  In  no 
other  department  of  moral  or  religious  or  secular  effort 
is  such  a  course  pursued." 

Fourth.  Teachers  should  be  selected,  so  far  as 
possible,  who  have  managing  as  well  as  teaching 
qualities.  Among  the  good  managing  qualities  of 
teachers  may  be  mentioned  tact,  common  sense,  skill 
and  attractive  physical  presence,  the  Socratic  art  of 
questioning,  sympathy,  and  self-command. 


Religious  Education  in  the  Church      409 
From  the  long  list  of  educational  agencies  of  the  The 

Nf  id  -week 

church  let  me  select  one  more  for  special,  though  brief,  Meeting, 
mention,  viz.  the  mid-week  meeting.  The  customary 
slow  dying  rate  of  these  meetings  can  be  quickened  to 
a  living  pace,  and  in  a  few  churches  this  has  been  done, 
through  right  adjustment  to  the  communities  in  which 
they  are  held.  These  meetings  are  the  great  and 
unused  opportunity  for  religious  people  to  express 
themselves.  Any  religious  community  is  doing  some 
religious  thinking ;  any  community  whatsoever  has  its 
mid-week  religious  needs.  These  meetings  should  have 
the  twofold  purpose  of  satisfying  religious  needs  for 
prayer,  meditation,  and  song,  and  of  providing  the 
medium  of  expression  for  religious  information,  ideas, 
and  experience.  This  latter  purpose  is  truly  educa- 
tional in  character. 

In  order  for  the  educational  part  of  the  purpose  of 
the  meeting  to  be  attained,  several  things  are  necessary. 
The  meeting  is  to  bring  to  self-expression  the  people 
rather  than  the  pastor.  Its  programmes  on  pertinent 
religious  topics  must  be  definitely  planned  in  advance. 
The  persons  to  speak  must  be  selected  sufficiently  in 
advance  of  the  meeting  to  allow  for  special  preparation. 
The  meeting  should  be  held  in  a  comfortable  and  at- 
tractive place,  and  should  be  short,  preferably  within 
an  hour.  Confessions  of  personal  faith  on  the  living 
topics  of  religious  thought  will  bless  both  those  who 
speak  and  those  who  hear.  People  will  come  to  these 
meetings  when  they  want  to  come ;  and  they  will  want 
to  come  when  they  get  something.  Through  such 
sharing  of  religious  thought  and  experience  religious 


410     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

people  will  educate  each  other  in  the  great  things  of 
God. 


The  story  of  religious  education  in  the  church  can- 
not be  all  told.  By  selecting  for  special  mention  the 
three  conspicuous  examples  considered  above,  I  have 
tried  to  emphasize  the  place  of  education  in  the  church. 
As  Professor  Coe  puts  it,  "Education  in  religion  must 
be  the  chief  means  of  saving  the  world."  l  Those  who 
think  he  has  made  his  statement  too  strong  must  ponder 
those  older  words,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature,  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you." 

REFERENCES  ON  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE  CHURCH 

Briggs,   Theological   Education   and   Its   Needs,   Forum,    Jan. 

1892. 
Burton  and   Ma  thews,  Principles  and  Ideals  for  the  Sunday. 

school. 

Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  chs.  XVII,  XVIII,  XXI. 
Doane,  "The  Educational  Work  of  the  Christian  Church,"  in 

Principles  of  Religious  Education. 
Dutton,  Social  Phases  of  Education,  pp.  169  et  seq. 
Eliot,  Educational  Reform,  IV. 
Fitch,  Educational  Aims  and  Methods,  XIII. 
Haslett,  The  Pedagogical  Bible  School. 

King,  Personal  and  Ideal  Elements  in  Education,  pp.  105  et  seq. 
Parsons,  "Professional  Education,"  in  Education  in  the  United 

States,  Vol.  II,  pp.  22-30  (Butler,  ED.). 
Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  passim. 

1  Coe,  "Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,"  p.  395. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 

THE  TEXT-BOOK   OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

THERE  will  be  no  doubt  in  any  reader's  mind  as  to 
what  this  text-book  is.  Not  that  there  are  no  other 
texts  in  religious  education,  for  religious  education 
must  draw  inspiration  and  seek  instruction  from  the 
history  of  the  church,  the  history  of  missions,  ethics, 
practical  sociology,  and  other  sources.  But  the  text 
without  equal  for  religious  education,  the  inspirational 
centre  of  all  other  studies  that  develop  the  religious 
nature  of  man,  is  and  will  remain  the  Christian's 
Bible. 

It  is  both  tempting  and  easy  in  discussing  such  a  The  Purpose 
familiar  and  important  theme  to  multiply  the  weighty  Discussion, 
opinions  of  the  great  in  descriptive  eulogy  of  what  the 
Bible    means    for   present    and    future    man.    These 
commendations,  however,  would  not  serve  our  specific 
purpose  of  showing  the  adaptability  of  the  Bible  to  the 
needs  of  religious  education.     Unless  our  purpose  was 
thus  specific,  there  would  be  no  excuse  for  one  writing 
on  this  theme  who  brings  no  more  special  scholarship 
to  it  than  does  the  present  writer. 

Four  points  will  serve   to  outline  our  discussion:  Outline 

of  the 

certain  sources  of  general  interest  in  the  Bible,  its  Discussion, 
characteristics   as   literature,  certain   sources   of   spe- 
cial interest   in  the  Bible,  and  its  characteristics  as 

4" 


412     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Sources  of 
General  In- 
terest in  the 
Bible. 


Model  of 
Style. 


"a  pedagogical  masterpiece."  The  first  point  is  intro- 
ductory to  the  main  theme,  viz.  the  adaptability  of  the 
Bible  to  the  purposes  of  religious  education. 

There  are  three  sources  of  general  interest  in  the 
English  Bible :  it  is  a  model  of  English  prose,  it  contains 
indispensable  culture  material,  and  it  tells  us  about 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  Bible  is  a  model  of  English 
prose.  Its  potent  influence  may  be  traced  on  men  of 
letters  and  statesmen  like  Ruskin,  Gladstone,  Webster, 
Lincoln,  and  Reed.  The  orations  of  Moses  are  com- 
parable to  any  that  'Demosthenes  or  Cicero  can  show. 
Those  who  know  best  are  most  ready  to  tell  us  that  the 
King  James  Version  is  our  best  English.  Mr.  Edmund 
Gosse  writes  to  the  London  Bible  Society :  — 

"  It  would  be  impertinent  for  me  to  praise  the  English 
Bible,  and  needless  to  dwell  upon  its  value  as  a  model 
of  noble  language.  But  since  you  offer  me  this  op- 
portunity, I  should  like  to  insist  on  the  importance  to 
those  who  are  ambitious  to  write  well  of  reading  the 
Bible  aloud.  It  is  a  book  the  beauty  of  which  appeals 
largely  to  the  ear.  By  one  of  those  almost  miraculous 
chances  which  attended  upon  the  birth  of  this  incom- 
parable version,  each  different  part  of  it  seems  to  have 
fallen  to  a  man  appropriately  endowed  for  that  frag- 
ment of  the  task.  The  gospels,  for  instance,  vibrate 
with  the  tender  and  thrilling  melody  of  stringed  instru- 
ments; in  the  narrations  of  the  Old  Testament  and  in 
the  Psalms  we  find  a  wider  orchestra,  and  the  silver 
trumpet  predominates.  When  young  men,  therefore, 
ask  me  for  advice  in  the  formation  of  a  prose  style,  I 


The  Text- Book  of  Religious  Education     413 

have  no  counsel  for  them  except  this:  read  aloud  a 
portion  of  the  Old  and  another  of  the  New  Testament 
as  often  as  you  possibly  can." 

Again,  the  Bible  contains  indispensable  material  for  Culture. 
purposes  of  general  culture.  Without  a  knowledge  of 
its  contents,  the  reader  of  the  English  poets,  from  Chaucer 
to  Browning,  finds  them  partially  unintelligible.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  American  poets.  The  lawyer  of 
culture  must  know  Moses  as  well  as  Blackstone.  The 
teacher  of  culture  must  learn  from  Jesus  as  well  as 
Socrates.  The  man  of  culture  must  know  something 
of  the  men  of  Israel,  beginning  with  Amos,  who  framed 
for  the  race  the  conception  of  a  moral  Governor  of  the 
universe,  a  conception  without  which  neither  a  mono- 
theistic religion  nor  a  philosophy  of  history  is  possible. 
The  best  of  modern  scholarship  goes  into  the  study  of 
the  Bible  and  the  things  connected  with  it  even  re- 
motely, while  concerning  it  more  volumes  appear  than 
on  any  other  of  our  great  classical  literatures.  Presi- 
dent Hall  observes,  "No  race  ever  flourished  without 
its  classics  or  Bible,  as  the  pabulum  for  its  higher 
humanistic  life." 

And,  again,  the  Bible  contains  the  source  material  of  Jesus- 
the  life  of  Jesus,  the  central  figure  of  our  world  from  any 
point  of  view.  More  people  to-day  trust  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  for  personal  and  social  salvation  than  in  any 
other ;  in  a  broad  sense  of  the  term,  Christians  number 
about  one-third  of  the  population  of  the  globe.  Upon 
the  life  and  death  of  Jesus  is  founded  the  religion  of 
the  West,  the  religion  of  the  nations  holding  the  balance 
of  power  in  our  little  world.  An  abstract  intelligence, 


414     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


devoid  of  interest  in  the  welfare  of  man,  and  without  a 
heart,  but  with  the  eyes  of  the  understanding  opened, 
would  desire  to  look  into  the  book  chronicling  the  events 
in  the  life  of  Jesus. 

These  three  things,  then,  its  English,  its  culture 
value,  and  its  record  of  Jesus,  are  sources  of  our  general 
interest  in  the  Bible.  There  are  countless  others,  but 
these  are  enough  to  prevent  the  Bible  ever  being  neg- 
lected by  those  who  love  the  best  things,  and  we  rehearse 
together  these  commonplaces  of  our  thought  because 
they  have  such  uncommon  values. 


The  Charac- 
teristics of 

the  Bible  as     books,   a   literature. 

Literature. 


Compre- 
hensiveness. 


Excellence. 


The  Bible  is  not  so  much  a  book  as  a  collection  of 
Its  characteristics  as  literature 
include,  among  many  others,  at  least  the  four  follow- 
ing: comprehensiveness,  excellence,  power,  and  per- 
manence. The  comprehensiveness  of  biblical  litera- 
ture is  shown  by  the  period  of  time  its  composition 
covers,  from  almost  a  thousand  years  B.C.  to  about  a 
hundred  years  A.D.  No  other  single  Western  literature 
has  had  such  a  long  development.  Its  comprehensive- 
ness as  literature  is  also  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  in- 
cludes models  of  practically  all  the  known  forms  of 
literature,  except,  as  some  one  has  observed,  the  modern 
newspaper  editorial.  Here  are  poetry  and  prose;  the 
lyric,  the  drama,  the  epic;  the  proverb,  the  story,  the 
parable,  the  oration,  the  epistle,  biography,  and  prayer ; 
also  war-songs,  laments,  and  enigmas.  The  literary 
activity  of  no  other  race  has  surpassed  in  variety  that  of 
Israel. 

A  number  of  qualities  combine  to  indicate  the  ex- 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education     415 

cellence  of  this  literature.  It  has  naturalness,  sim- 
plicity, touches  of  realism,  love  of  nature,  and  an 
invigorating  moral  tone.  It  combines  a  practical 
optimism  with  a  high  idealism.  It  recognizes  the  evil 
in  men  as  they  are  and  depicts  the  good  they  ought  to 
realize.  All  the  moods  of  the  human  soul  are  here 
reflected,  its  darker  doubt  and  despair  and  pessimism 
as  well  as  its  brighter  hope  and  joy  and  peace.  And 
through  all  the  changes  of  time  the  faith  of  the  biblical 
writers  ventures  to  affirm  a  supreme  and  good  Will 
enacting  its  larger  purposes. 

Using  the  distinction  made  famous  by  De  Quincey,  Power, 
this  is  a  literature  of  power  rather  than  information. 
It  is  neither  a  history  nor  a  science,  but  a  religious  ex- 
perience. One  is  truest  to  its  spirit,  not  when  he  argues 
concerning  its  inspiration,  but  when  he  is  inspired  by  it 
to  noble  service.  It  calls  men  not  to  argumentation, 
but  to  action.  For  this  reason  it  has  wrought  itself, 
not  only  into  the  individual,  but  also  into  the  social  and 
national  life.  In  an  address  before  the  Long  Island 
Bible  Society  in  1901,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  then  Vice- 
President,  used  this  language:  "Every  thinking  man, 
when  he  thinks,  realizes,  what  a  very  large  number  of 
people  tend  to  forget,  that  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
are  so  interwoven  and  entwined  with  our  whole  civic 
and  social  life  that  it  would  be  literally  —  I  do  not 
mean  figuratively,  I  mean  literally  —  impossible  for 
us  to  figure  to  ourselves  what  that  life  would  be  if  these 
teachings  were  removed.  We  would  lose  almost  all 
the  standards  by  which  we  now  judge  both  public  and 
private  morals;  all  the  standards  toward  which  we, 


416     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 


Permanence. 


with  more  or  less  of  resolution,  strive  to  raise  our- 
selves." 

The  literature  of  the  Bible  has  the  quality  of  per- 
manence. This  is  because  of  the  good  news  for  man 
it  conveys.  Already  it  is  the  personal  book  of  more 
souls  than  any  other,  and  is  read  in  more  tongues  than 
any  other.  Recording  the  highest  reach  of  religious 
experience  in  Jesus,  the  Bible  is  bound  up  with  all  the 
future  religious  progress  of  the  race.  Its  evangel,  too, 
is  carried  by  a  literary  form  that  stands  the  test  of 
all  literature  that  abides,  viz.  universal  appreciation. 
These  four,  then,  its  comprehensiveness,  excellence, 
power,  and  permanence,  serve  to  indicate  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  Bible  as  literature. 


Sources  of 
Special 
Interest  in 
the  Bible. 


The  Child's 
Book. 


Approaching  still  nearer  our  subject,  we  come  to  con- 
sider certain  sources  of  special  interest  in  the  Bible. 
Thinking  of  the  stages  in  the  development  of  the  indi- 
vidual, we  find  the  Bible  makes  a  unique  appeal  to 
each  stage.  It  is  the  book  of  children,  of  youth,  and 
of  men.  We  will  consider  each  of  these  three  stages 
separately  and  in  succession. 

The  Bible  is  the  child's  book.  For  in  it  are  children, 
and  talking  animals,  and  moving  narration,  and  dra- 
matic action,  and  vivid  imagination.  In  it,  too,  is  the 
story,  the  best  vehicle  of  truth  for  the  mind  of  children. 
Here  are  the  lad  Isaac,  the  boy  Joseph,  the  young 
David,  and  the  child  Jesus;  here  are  Miriam  and  the 
Syrian  maid;  stories  whose  beauty  and  simplicity  will 
never  cease  to  attract,  even  to  the  thousandth  repetition, 
so  long  as  the  world  retains  its  youth  and  remembers 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education     417 

its  children.  The  Bible  puts  the  child  where  Jesus 
did,  in  the  midst  of  apostles  of  God.  The  problem  is 
all  one  of  selection;  only  give  the  Bible  a  chance  to 
attract  children  through  its  children  and  you  will  not 
have  to  prescribe  its  reading.  Let  the  Bible  stand  hi 
the  child's  mind  as  a  privilege,  not  a  compulsion; 
and  I  beg  of  you  not  to  require  the  memorizing  of  its 
difficult  passages  as  a  penalty,  according  to  an  old 
custom.  Even  children  of  older  growth  do  not  love 
their  punishments.  It  is  a  sad  comment  upon  our 
inability  to  tell  Bible  stories  and  our  lack  of  biographical 
study  in  the  Sunday-school  that  very  few  of  the  children 
we  know  between  eleven  and  thirteen  years  of  age  will 
select  biblical  characters  as  their  ideals. 

The  Bible  is  the  youth's  book.  For  in  it  are  youths,  The  Youth's 
and  aspirations  after  ideals,  and  friendships,  and  hero- 
ism, and  doubt,  and  love.  In  the  Bible  are  aspirations 
after  ideals ;  here  are  Abraham,  Jacob,  Joseph,  Daniel, 
Jesus,  Paul,  and  John,  names  belonging  on  any  list  of 
the  world's  idealists.  In  it  are  friendships,  wonderful 
friendships,  such  as  Enoch  and  Jehovah,  David  and 
Jonathan,  Jesus  and  John,  Paul  and  Timothy,  Christ 
and  the  church ;  here,  also,  are  Ruth  and  Naomi.  In  it 
are  heroes,  typical  heroes  of  various  kinds,  like  Moses, 
Samson,  Daniel,  and  Jesus;  and  heroines,  like  Esther, 
and  Lydia,  and  the  beautiful  young  mother  of  Jesus. 
In  it,  too,  are  doubters,  grave  doubters,  like  Job,  Ec- 
clesiastes,  and  Thomas.  Doubt  is  natural  to  thinking 
youths.  They  must  experience  the  truths  of  the  great 
world  of  religion  for  themselves.  The  accumulated 
experience  of  the  race  in  the  forms  of  faith  and  doc- 

2E 


4i  8     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

trines  they  cannot  entirely  assimilate  and  some  of  it  is 
cast  off.  The  doubter  is  not  to  be  told  to  quit  doubt- 
ing. He  is  to  be  told  to  go  on  thinking,  to  be  patient 
with  himself,  and  especially  to  get  acquainted  with 
Job,  the  Preacher,  and  the  doubting  disciple.  And, 
above  all,  the  doubter  must  catch  the  biblical  spirit  of 
work,  of  learning  the  doctrine  through  doing  the  will. 
Self-forgetful  work  is  the  sunburst  that  scatters  the 
mists  of  doubt.  The  Bible  is  the  book  for  youth,  too, 
because  it  is  the  book  of  love.  The  grand  central 
theme  is  love,  love  of  God  for  man,  love  of  man  for 
God  and  men.  From  Eden  to  Noah,  to  Moses,  to 
Hosea,  to  Jesus,  to  John,  it  is  all  God  saving  the  world 
by  love,  by  a  love  that  never  fails,  by  a  love  that  grieves 
when  man  hates,  by  an  unangered  love  that  suffers 
when  man  sins,  by  a  free  love  that  forgives  when  man 
repents,  by  a  love  that  saves  when  man  loves,  —  the 
Bible  is  the  book  of  love.  Jesus  is  the  highest  type  of 
hero  who  overcomes  the  world  through  a  suffering  love. 
The  Bible  is  the  youth's  own  book,  for  in  it,  in  short,  is 
that  self-revelation  which  all  adolescence  seeks. 
The  Man's  The  Bible  is  the  man's  book.  For  in  it  are  noble 
men  and  women  who  in  the  burden  and  heat  of  the 
day  brought  things  to  pass,  who  were  the  agents  in 
the  never  ending  creation  of  a  new  order.  Here  are 
the  patriarchs,  the  judges,  the  kings,  the  prophets,  the 
Saviour,  the  apostles,  and  a  great  multitude  of  men  and 
women,  all  of  whom  the  vision  of  youth  attended 
on  the  dusty  highways  of  mature  labor  and  service. 
The  Bible  is  the  book  of  the  burden-bearer  for  the 
burden-bearer.  It  calls  mature  men  and  women 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education     419 

to  work  to-day  in  the  name  of  the  world's  great 
workers. 

And  for  the  years  as  they  bring  the  philosophic  mind 
and  the  natural  cessation  from  the  day's  work,  here  is 
the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  systematic  thought  of 
Paul,  and  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  For  the  descent 
of  life  there  are  also  companions  to  be  found  in  the 
figure  of  the  aged  Jacob  blessing  his  sons,  of  the  old 
hero  Moses  with  undimmed  eyes  set  toward  the  prom- 
ised land,  and  of  stalwart  young  Timothy's  grand- 
mother, Lois.  And  there  is  the  comfort  of  Christ. 

From  childhood  to  childhood  again  the  blessings  of  the 
Book  are  over  all.  The  twenty-third  Psalm  is  for  chil- 
dren who  have  seen  a  shepherd  tending  his  sheep  and 
for  the  aged  who  are  passing  through  the  valley  of  deep 
darkness.  The  meaning  of  the  great  passages  grows 
as  we  grow,  and  their  deepest  meaning  is  still  beyond 
us.  No  man  to-day  has  grown  into  the  realization  of 
sonship  with  the  Father  which  Jesus  had,  or  even  into 
the  fellowship  with  Jesus  which  Paul  had.  There  is 
thus  something  in  the  Bible  for  all ;  you,  whoever  you 
be,  are  in  its  pages ;  to  each  reader  it  may  become  thus 
a  personal  book.  In  adjusting  it  to  the  needs  of  those 
whose  religious  nature  is  being  developed,  the  prob- 
lem is  essentially  one  of  selection.  The  philosopher 
Paulsen  has  expressed  what  the  learned  scholars  as 
well  as  the  common  people  feel  when  he  writes,  "Who- 
ever appreciates  simplicity  and  truth,  grandeur  and 
sublimity,  must  surely  find  pleasure  and  consolation  in 
the  Sacred  Scriptures."  l  Those  unique  appeals  the 

1  Paulsen,  "  Introduction  to  Philosophy,"  p.  335,  Thilly  Tr. 


420     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

Bible  makes  to  each  stage  in  religious  development  are, 
then,  the  sources  of  our  special  interest  in  the  Bible. 

The  Bible  as       From  these  considerations  we  are  led  naturally  to  the 

"  a  Pedagog- 
ical Master-     last,  viz.  the  characteristics  of  the  Bible  as  "a  peda- 

Plece-  gogical  masterpiece,"  as  President  Hall  calls  it.  From 

the  many  characteristics  that  might  be  enumerated  to 
justify  the  description,  let  us  select  to  consider  only  the 
following  four;  its  principle  of  growth,  its  vitality,  its 
racial  quality,  its  spirit. 

Growth.  The  Bibie  contains  the  principle  of  growth.  This 

is  the  reason  it  can  provide  for  the  growth  of  man  from 
childhood  to  age,  as  just  seen.  The  Bible  grows  with 
the  child  as  he  grows.  This  principle  receives  distinct 
expression  in  Jesus,  who  likens  the  kingdom  to  hidden 
leaven,  and  looks  first  for  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  The  truth  it  contains  is  un- 
folded as  a  growing  revelation.  And  in  the  main  the 
books  as  they  are  arranged  stand  in  correct  pedagogical 
order,  the  earlier  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  for  the 
child,  the  prophecies  and  the  gospels  for  youth,  and  the 
epistles  of  Paul  for  maturity.  Perhaps  the  only  con- 
siderable change  needed  would  be  to  carry  forward 
the  wisdom  literature  of  the  Old  Testament  to  stand 
with  Paul's  letters.  After  what  has  already  been  said 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  name  the  characteristics  of 
each  part  of  the  Bible  thus  divided  that  adapt  it  to  its 
special  use.  It  is  sufficient  only  to  recognize  that  hi 
keeping  with  all  the  demands  of  modern  pedagogy  for 
development,  the  Bible  incorporates  the  principle  of 
growth.  It  is  not  necessary  to  raise  the  question  whether 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education    421 

we  can  outgrow  the  Bible.  The  question  will  not  be 
pertinent  until  the  highest  biblical  standards  prevail. 
Though  we  affirm  the  principle  of  a  growing  and  con- 
tinuous revelation  through  all  the  ages  down  to  the 
present,  we  still  confess  that  the  spiritual  truths  in 
the  Bible  that  humanity  at  large  has  not  yet  seen  are 
perhaps  greater  than  those  it  knows,  for  we  are  not  yet 
spiritually  grown,  and  Jesus  is  still  a  partial  enigma 
to  us. 

A  second  pedagogical  characteristic  of  the  Bible  is  its  vitality, 
vitality.  Its  subject  is  religion,  and  it  has  the  vital 
touch  at  every  point.  Here  is  reality  in  the  religious 
life.  The  Bible  reports  religious  life  in  the  act;  it  is 
not  about  religion,  like  theology;  it  is  religion  express- 
ing itself.  The  Bible  differs  from  theology  as  the 
stories  of  Uncle  Remus  differ  from  scientific  folk-lore. 
Compare  the  Psalms,  for  example,  with  any  of  Schaff's 
"  creeds  of  Christendom  " ;  they  pulsate  with  fervent  life, 
these  are  dry  bones.  Theologies  and  philosophies  of 
religion  are  necessary  for  all  thinking  minds,  but  they 
cannot  be  found  in  the  Bible.  The  authors  of  its 
books  had  an  experience  of  God  which  our  record 
expresses;  they  were  not  interpreting  the  religious  ex- 
perience of  others,  they  were  expressing  with  the 
authority  of  personal  experience  what  they  had  them- 
selves felt.  They  summon  us  primarily  to  join  them, 
and  only  secondarily,  if  at  all,  to  explain  them.  The 
carrying  power  of  the  biblical  compositions  is  due  to  the 
expression  through  them  of  the  personality  of  their 
authors.  The  teacher  of  the  Bible  needs  primarily,  not 
learning  and  scholarship,  though  these  are  great  aids, 


422     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

but  the  sense  of  appreciation  of  the  animating  spirit  of 
the  author  studied  or  incident  recorded,  together  with 
aptness  at  communicating  it. 

Racial.  Again,  the  Bible  is  a  racial  product.  Modern  peda- 

gogy is  saying  it  takes  a  race  to  educate  a  child.  The 
Bible  is  a  race  in  religion  expressing  its  development. 
A  child  nourished  on  this  racial  product  becomes  a 
partaker  of  a  racial  religious  life.  He  is  truly  educated 
in  religion.  The  Bible  was  not  made  by  a  pedagogical 
expert  for  teaching  purposes ;  it  grew ;  therefore  it  is  a 
pedagogical  masterpiece.  The  Bible  speaks  on  re- 
ligion with  ages  of  truth-seeking  behind  it.  Centuries 
of  struggle  after  God  are  here  uttering  their  secrets. 
The  religion  of  that  individual  race  most  gifted  among 
the  races  of  the  world  in  the  genius  for  religion  became 
in  Jesus  and  Paul  universal  in  its  outlook  and  sweep. 
To  follow  this  development  in  one's  own  personal 
experience  is  to  come  into  completest  unity  with  the 
life  of  God  and  man.  "We  have,  in  fact,  only  begun 
to  guess  the  possible  value  of  the  Bible  as  an  instrument 
of  religious  education."  l 

Spiritual.  And  lastly,  in  a  truer  sense  than  any  theory  of  literal 

or  verbal  inspiration  has  ever  held,  the  Bible  is  the  work 
of  the  spirit  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  Here  are  the 
men  who  have  both  heard  and  hearkened  to  the  divine 
voice,  who  have  both  felt  and  followed  the  drawing  of 
the  Father.  Not  in  an  external  and  mechanical,  but 
in  an  internal  and  real  sense,  Scripture  is  given  by  in- 
spiration of  God.  The  belief  in  the  omnipresence  of 
God  demands  that  He  be  found  in  the  thoughts,  feel- 

1  Coe,  "Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,"  p.  393. 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education    423 

ings,  and  deeds  of  true  men.  In  proportion  to  their 
insight,  they  express  His  nature  truly.  Inspiration  is 
not  dictation,  nor  guidance  of  the  pen;  it  is  man's 
experience  of  God  narrating  itself.  Its  quality  varies 
with  the  individuality  of  the  writer  or  speaker.  The 
words  of  Jesus  give  us  our  deepest  insight  into  the 
character  of  God ;  their  inspirational  quality  is  supreme. 
The  imprecatory  Psalms  Christ  did  not  quote;  few 
Christians  would  care  to  pray  them ;  their  inspirational 
quality  is  slight.  The  law  of  retaliation  in  the  Levitical 
legislation  Jesus  did  quote,  only  expressly  to  set  it 
aside  in  favor  of  the  attitude  of  love  toward  enemies. 
Thus  is  illustrated  how  the  spirit  of  God,  working  in 
the  hearts  of  all  men,  is  limited  in  its  work  by  the  in- 
ability of  each  man.  It  is  not  necessary  at  this  point, 
though  it  would  be  interesting,  to  compare  the  inspira- 
tional quality  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole  with  that  of  other 
sacred  literature.  Sufficient  has  been  said  to  indicate 
the  fact  and  the  nature  of  the  fact  that  our  Scriptures 
are  the  work  of  the  Divine  Pedagogos,  as  Clement  of 
Alexandria  used  to  call  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  Spirit 
is  able  to  lead  to  the  true  teacher  of  us  all,  God,  the 
little  children  and  youth  and  men  and  women  who  take 
it  confidingly  by  the  hand. 

Thus  we  have  noted  the  developmental,  vital,  racial,  I*1* 
and  spiritual  qualities  that  characterize  the  Bible  as 
our  supreme  curriculum  in  religious  education.  Some- 
thing has  been  intimated  of  its  undiscovered  resources 
and  its  unapplied  material.  We  need  not  be  afraid  of 
modern  critical  scholarship.  We  may  expect  most  of 


424     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

our  ideas  about  the  Bible  to  change,  for  we  are  very 
ignorant  concerning  it.  What  will  not  change  is  the 
sense  of  the  presence  of  God  in  human  experience  to 
which  it  witnesses,  and  which,  after  all,  is  the  essential 
thing.  Rather  when  the  negative  trend  of  the  higher 
criticism  is  spent,  that  is,  when  our  grosser  ignorance 
is  removed  and  when  the  positive  fruits  of  the 
movement  begin  to  appear,  as  appearing  they  already 
are  to  some  extent,  we  shall  find  that  the  Bible  has  suf- 
fered nothing  from  the  hands  of  literary  and  historical 
science ;  rather  that  the  more  we  know  of  its  origin, 
preservation,  literary  form,  and  significance  to  its  own 
authors,  the  greater  and  the  deeper  becomes  its  spiritual 
effect.  For  example,  Jacob  and  Esau  are  greater  as 
Israel  and  Edom  than  as  individuals,  as  a  society  is 
larger  than  one  of  its  members.  When  the  Bible  is 
thus  through  modern  study  fully  recovered  to  us,  when 
a  large  body  of  intelligent  and  devoted  teachers  carry 
to  the  rising  generation  the  real  old  Bible,  that  is,  the 
Bible  as  it  was  to  its  own  people,  will  not  its  teaching 
give  us  in  time  the  greater  education  and  the  greater 
man? 

So  at  least  thinks  President  Hall,  with  whose  sug- 
gestive outlook  we  seem  to  catch  glimpses  of  the  future. 
"It  is  ...  our  great  good  fortune,"  he  says,  "to  live 
in  an  age  when  our  Bible  is  being  slowly  revealed  as 
the  best  utterance  and  reflex  of  the  nature  and  needs 
of  the  soul  of  man,  as  his  great  text-book  in  psychology, 
dealing  with  him  as  a  whole,  body,  mind,  heart,  and  will, 
and  all  in  the  largest  and  deepest  relation  to  nature  and 
to  his  fellow-man,  which  has  been  so  misunderstood 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education     425 

simply  because  it  was  so  deeply  divine.  Now  that  its 
study  is  not  confined  to  the  Sunday-school  and  pulpit, 
but  archaeology,  philosophy,  comparative  religion,  criti- 
cism, and  anthropology  have  shown  it,  part  by  part, 
myth,  history,  prophecy,  song,  and,  above  all,  Chris- 
tology,  which  is  the  heart  of  all,  in  a  new  and  majestic 
light,  there  is  a  new  hope  that  when  all  these  studies 
have  done  their  work  and  their  results  are  duly  certi- 
fied and  organized,  we  shall  at  last  be  able  to  minister 
to  the  religious  needs  of  academic  adolescence  in  a 
way  that  opens  the  door  to  a  higher  type  of  education 
and  of  man."  l 

Herewith   our  investigation   of   religious   education  G«neral 

Status  of 

must  conclude.  It  is  a  vast  topic,  to  which  American  Religious 
educators  are  beginning  to  awaken.  The  territory  is  J 
mostly  virgin,  the  ground  is  hardly  broken,  few  divisions 
have  been  staked  out,  and  only  a  guide-book  or  two 
have  appeared.  Many  scattering  papers  exist,  few 
monographs,  very  few  volumes.  Every  modern  science, 
especially  psychology,  has  a  great  deal  that  ought  to 
be  said  upon  it.  In  America  we  may  confidently  ex- 
pect a  growing  appreciation  of  the  unity  of  religious  and 
general  education,  and  a  quickened  endeavor  to  meet 
educationally,  as  otherwise,  existing  religious  need. 

The  preceding  discussions  may  have  led  us  to  feel  Summary  of 

,     *  Religious 

that  our  world  is  such  that  God  may  be  met  anywhere.   Education. 
Among  the  reputed  sayings  of  Jesus  are,  "Lift  the 
stone,  and  there  am  I ;  cleave  the  wood,  and  there  shalt 
thou  find  me."     "Hast  thou  seen  thy  brother?    Then 

1  G.  S.  Hall,  "Adolescence,  "  Vol.  II,  p.  321. 


426     The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education 

hast  thou  seen  God."  Companionship  with  God  is  an 
omnipresent  privilege.  This  companionship  should 
begin  in  childhood,  grow  in  youth,  and  continue  through 
manhood.  It  should  consciously  begin  in  the  home,  be 
unconsciously  felt  in  the  school,  and  come  to  fruition  in 
the  church.  Apart  from  truly  religious  souls,  the 
greatest  guide  into  the  fulness  of  such  companionship 
is  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  Scriptures.  And  the 
purpose  of  all  religious  education  is  not  to  take  men  up 
from  earth  to  heaven,  but  to  bring  down  heaven  to  men 
upon  earth,  not  to  fit  us  for  eternal  life  not  yet  begun, 
but  to  make  us  realize  the  eternity  of  the  present  life. 
Life  can  never  be  other  than  now.  We  cannot  fly  away 
to  God,  we  cannot  fly  away  from  God. 

Summary  Herewith  our  whole  investigation,  already  too  long  I 

Principles  of  fear,  into  the  principles  of  education  must  end.  We 
Education.  h&ve  found  that,  though  mostly  guesswork  to-day,  the 
educating  of  man  has  in  it  the  potentiality  of  scientific, 
though  general  and  inexact,  procedure.  Unless  the 
preceding  pages  have  shown  this,  more  words  were 
futile  now.  Ideal  education  must  be  physical,  intel- 
lectual, emotional,  moral,  and  religious.  Physical  edu- 
cation, the  groundwork  of  all,  we  did  not  consider,  for 
reasons  indicated  at  the  outset.  Intellectual  education 
develops  man's  capacity  to  know  the  truth,  that  he  should 
pursue  it.  Emotional  education  develops  man's  capacity 
to  feel  the  beautiful,  that  he  should  love  it.  Moral  edu- 
cation develops  man's  capacity  to  will  the  good,  that 
he  should  desire  it.  Religious  education  develops  man's 
capacity  to  sense  the  divine,  that  he  should  rest  in  it. 


The  Text-Book  of  Religious  Education    427 

And  the  aim  of  it  all  is  not  to  fit  us  for  future  complete 
living,  but  to  make  us  live  completely  now.  The  per- 
fect life  is  not  something  that  awaits  us  of  a  sudden, 
it  is  something  to  win  increasingly  as  the  moments  pass. 
This  perfect  life  has  value  in  itself;  it  includes  the 
ideals  of  health,  truth,  beauty,  goodness,  and  God, 
these  five,  and  the  last  all  in  all.  The  practice  of  the 
principles  of  education  wins  for  us  the  promise  of  the 
Gospel,  "Ye  shall  be  perfect." 

PROBLEMS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY 

1.  Historical  and  Literary  Criticism  of  the  Bible. 

2.  The  Curriculum  of  Religious  Education. 

3.  The  Value  of  the  Old  Testament  for  Religious  Education. 

4.  The  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 

REFERENCES  ON  THE  BIBLE  AND  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Coe,  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  pp.  391-393. 

Curtis,  The  Old  Testament  in  Religious  Education,  Biblical 
World,  December,  1903. 

Fitch,  Educational  Aims  and  Methods,  Section  I. 

King,  The  Bible  as  an  Aid  to  Self-Discovery,  Proc.  R.  E.  A., 
1905,  pp.  25-28. 

McFadyen,  Baldwin,  Dawson,  Faunce,  The  Bible  in  Educa- 
tion, Proc.  R.  E.  A.,  1904,  pp.  55-81. 

McKelway,  The  Opportunity  of  the  Daily  Press  to  apply  Bib- 
lical Principles  to  Modern  Social  Problems,  Proc.  R.  E.  A., 
1904,  pp.  4 1 3-4.35- 

Meeser,  The  Educational  Use  of  the  Bible  by  the  Pastor,  Proc. 
R.  E.  A.,  1904,  pp.  180-187. 

Rhees  and  Willett,  Religious  Education  as  affected  by  the  His- 
torical Study  of  the  Bible,  Proc.  R.  E.  A.t  1903,  pp.  80-91. 


INDEX 


(The  numbers  refer  to  the  pages.) 


Adams,  96,  106,  329. 

Adler,  F.,  265. 

.(Esthetic  Education,  Ch.  XX. 

its  nature,  239-240. 

its  neglect,  240-242.     * 

history  of,  242-243. 

importance  of,  243-247. 

problem  of,  247-248. 

how   to   cultivate   the  sense   of 

beauty,  248-254. 
Aiken,  138,  329. 
Angell,  176,  203,  226,  263,  264,  269, 

377,  3°5- 
Apperception,  Ch.  IX. 

nature  of,  108-110. 

results  of,  ixo-xii. 

conditions  of,  111-112. 

use  of,  in  teaching,  112-116. 
Arnold,  396. 

Arts,  analogy  of,  5-6,  12. 
Attendance,  in  school,  38. 
Attention,  Ch.  XXVIII. 

nature  of,  314. 

hindrances  to,  314-316. 

kinds  of,  316-317. 

helps  to,  317-320,  324-328. 


B 

Bacon,  303. 

Bain,  15,  16,  22,  65,  79,  96,  118, 
130,  138,  158,  159,  162,  164, 
213,  218,  219,  226,  254,  264. 


Baker,  79,  305. 

Baldwin,   106,   138,  164,  189,  aoo, 
207,  264,  269,  277,  278,  283, 

32S.  329- 
Barnes,  364. 
Barnett,  54,  265. 
Behrends,  390. 
Bell,  396. 
Bible,  Ch.  XXXIV.       • 

use  of,  in  public  school,  390-396. 
sources   of  general   interest  in, 

412-414. 
characteristics  of,   as  literature, 

414-416. 
sources   of   special   interest    in, 

416-420. 
"  a     pedagogical     masterpiece," 

420-423. 

its  future  use,  423-425. 
Bieroliet,  127. 
Bishop,  396. 
Boone,  22,  65. 
Bourne,  30. 
Briggs,  381,  410. 
Burrage  and  Bailey,  254. 
Burton,  410. 
Butler,  347. 


Calderwood,  305. 

Calkins,    154,   207,   219,   226,   283, 

329- 
Carr  and  Thurber,  396. 


429 


430 


Index 


Character,  36,  53. 

Citizenship,  36. 

Coe,  41,  347.  348,  349.  364,  367, 

381,  396,  410,  427. 
Coleridge,  126. 
Collar  and  Crook,  381. 
Comenius,  87,  89. 
Compayre,  96,  122,  138,  154,   176, 

189,  213,  265. 
Conception,  Ch.  XII. 

nature  of,  155-157- 

extent  of,  157. 

why  stimulate?  157-159. 

how  stimulate?  159-164. 
Cooley,  292,  312. 
Coulter,  348. 
Cramer,  189,  296. 
Creighton,  176,  189. 
Culture,  34. 
Curriculum,  32,  38,  57. 
Curtis,  427. 

D 

D'Alembert,  142. 

Davenport,  359,  364. 

Davidson,  30,  242,  427. 

Dawson,  427. 

Deduction,  a  method  of  educational 

science,  17-20. 

De  Garmo,  66,  107,  116,  164,  265. 
Deliberating     and    Choosing,     Ch. 

XXVII. 

importance  of,  306. 
nature  of,  307-308. 
the  teacher's  assistance  in,  308- 

312. 

Development,  35. 
Dewey,  65,  116,  164,  207,  320. 
Dexter  and  Garlick,  96,  106,  116 
138,  154,  176,  189,  213,  226 

338.  255- 
Dill,  292. 
Dilthey,  8,  22. 


Discipline,  Theory  of  Formal,  Ch. 

VI. 

an  educational  ideal,  34. 
Doane,  410. 
Dutton,  265,  381,  410. 

E 

last,  lesson  of  the,  25-26. 
Education,  the  Science  of,  Part  I. 

Intellectual,  Part  H. 

Emotional,  Part  III. 

Moral,  Part  IV. 

Religious,  Part  V. 

Concept  of  a  Science  of,  Ch.  I. 

primarily  an  art,  5-6. 

a  descriptive  science  of,  6-7. 

the  normative  science  of,  7-16. 

the     methods     of     educational 
science,  16-21. 

purpose  of  the  history  of,  23. 

utility  of  the  history  of,  24. 

Problem  of,  Ch.  III. 

presuppositions  of,  31-33. 

educational  environment,  32. 

different  ideals  of,  33-37- 

Contribution  of  Psychology  to  a 
Science  of,  Ch.  V. 

See  "  /Esthetic"  and  "  Religious." 
Efficiency,  34. 

Eliot,  C.  W.,  198,  213,  250,  311,  410. 
Eliot,  S.  A.,  188. 
Emerson,  109. 

Emotions,  Controlling  the  Coarser, 
Ch.  XVIII. 

theory  of  the,  220-221. 

the     James-Lange     theory     of, 
321-224. 

how  to  control  the  coarser,  224- 

226. 
Everett,  C.  C.,  176,  197. 

F 

Faunce,  427. 
Feelings,  Description  of,  Ch.  XV. 


Index 


Feelings,  primacy  of,  195. 
importance  of,  195-199. 
nature  of,  199-201. 
kinds  of,  201-203. 
growth  of,  204-206. 
Principles  of  Educating  the,  Ch. 

XVI. 
Developing   the  Altruistic,    Ch. 

XIX. 
are  all  men  self-centred?    229- 

234. 
how   to   develop  the   altruistic, 

334-238. 
Findlay,  22. 
Fiske,  223. 

Fitch,  54,  189,  265,  329,  410,  427. 
Formal  Discipline,  the  Theory  of, 

Ch.  VI. 

Fothergill,  264,  265. 
Froebel,  116. 


God,  conception  of,  339-340. 
Goethe,  109. 
Granville,  M.,  124. 
Griggs,  E.  H.,  229,  238,  283,  305, 
312,  364,  381. 

H 
Habit,  Ch.  XXVI. 

universality  of,  292-294. 

nature  of,  294-295. 

explanation  of,  295-298. 

sinister  side  of,  298-300. 

how  to  make  or  break,  300-302. 

educational  condusions.joa^os. 
Hadley,  41. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  60,  357,  364,  381. 
Hanus,  17,  79,  381. 
Harris,  W.  T.,  22,  30,  57,  116,  117, 
138,  164,  213,  265,  364,  396. 
Hoslett,  344,  410. 


Hegel,  27,  30. 

Henderson,  41,  381. 

Herbart,  65,  247. 

Hervey,  396.       „ 

Hinsdale,  22,  30,  54,  79. 

History  of  Education,  Ch.  II. 

Hoffding,  105. 

Holman,  214. 

Home,  see  "  Religious  Education." 

Hughes,  41,  329. 

Hypnotism,  and  education,  290-291. 

I 

Ideals,  educational  and  national,  25. 

educational,  and  history,  27-28. 

different,  of  education,  33-37. 

attainment  of,  in  practice,  38. 
Imagination,  Ch.  XI. 

stages  of  development  of,  142- 

143- 

types  of,  144-146. 
use   of   types  of,  in  educating, 

146-149. 

kinds  of,  149-150. 
training    the    productive,     150- 

154- 

Imitation,  Ch.  XXIV. 
nature  of,  278-279. 
the    models    children    imitate, 

279-280. 
the  influence  of  example,  280- 

282. 
the  limitations  of  example,  282- 

283. 

Impulse,  Ch.  XXIII. 
nature  of,  270-271. 
its   educational    principle,    271- 

272. 

the  precipitate  will,  272-275. 
the  obstructed  will,  275-277. 
Induction,  17. 

a    Method  of   Reasoning,    Ch. 

XIV. 


432 


Index 


Instinct,  Ch.  XXII. 

nature  of,  267-268. 

its    educational    principle,   268- 

269. 
Interest  and  effort,  320-324. 


James,  18,  65,  114,  116,  131,  138, 
189,  214,  219,  226,  232,  236, 
238,  264,  265,  269,  277,  292, 

297,  3°S,  312,  329»  358,  364- 
Jastrow,  60. 

Johnson,  Dr.,  on  memory,  127. 
Johonnot,  214,  255,  265. 
Jowett,  135. 
Judd,  283. 

Judgment,  Ch.  XIII. 
nature  of,  165-167. 
causes  of  false,  167-171. 
advantages  of   a  trained,    171- 

172. 

suggestions   for   practising    the, 
172-175. 

K 

Kant,  88,  165. 
Kay,  138. 

King,  H.  C.,  410,  427. 
Kirkpatrick,  154,  163,  269. 
Knowledge,  an  ideal  of  education, 
34- 

of  the  subject  taught,  43-47. 

of  the  pupil,  47-49. 
Knowlson,  176,  265. 
Kiilpe,  265. 


Ladd,  190,  207,  265. 
Lamprecht,  30. 
Landon,  190,  214. 
Landrith,  381. 
Lange,  108,  116. 
Laughlin,  214. 


Laurie,  30,  65,  190. 
Lazarus,  113. 
Le  Conte,  319. 
Leuba,  364. 
Lewes,  269. 
Lewis,  F.  C.,  79,  327. 
Lowell,  103. 

M 

MacCunn,  265,  278,  282,  283,  305, 

312,  364,  369.  38t- 
McCosh,  154. 
McDowell,  348. 
McFadyen,  427. 
McGhee,  19. 
McKelway,  427. 
McLellan    and    Dewey,     61,     65, 

127. 

McMurry,  116. 
Mark,  28,  30,  381. 
Mason,  292. 
Mathews,  348,  410. 
Mayer,  223. 
Meeser,  427. 
Memory,  Ch.  X. 

importance  of,  117-118. 

mnemonics,  119-132. 

how  to  improve,  122-127. 

forgetting,  128-129. 

"cramming,"  132. 

note-books  and,  133-135. 
Method,  in  teaching,  51-53. 

kinds  of,  51-52. 

inductive   and   deductive,    181- 

185. 
Mnemonics,  literature  on,  139. 

See  "Memory." 
Monroe,  P.,  28,  30,  41,  79,  397. 
Moral  Education,  Part  IV. 
Morgan,  L.,  106,  138,  154,  214,  255, 

265,  269,  283,  305. 
Morgan,  T.  J.,  92,  96,  106. 
Morris,  30. 


Index 


433 


Munroe,  J.  P.,  30. 
Munsterberg,  30,  45,  59,  65,  350. 


N 
Necker,  Mme.,  141. 


Oppenheim,    154,    214,    369,    392, 

3°S,  364- 
O'Shea,   n,    ao,   33,    77,   79,    116, 

396- 


Parsons,  410. 
Payne,  16,  33,  30,  54. 
Peabody,  364. 
Perception,  Ch.  VIII. 

kinds  of,  97-98. 

significance  of,  98-100. 

how  to  educate,  100-105. 
Plato,   43,    30,    134,   343-343,   353, 

337,  368. 
Pleasure,  and  Pain,  Ch.  XVII. 

nature  of,  315-316. 

as    moral    consequences,    317- 

319. 

Porter,  N.,  133. 
Preyer,  96. 

Psychology,  and  a  Science  of  Edu- 
cation, Ch.  V. 

and  knowledge  of  the  teacher's 
field,  56-58. 

the  power  of  its  knowledge,  58- 
61. 

personal  gains  from  it,  61-63. 

cautions  concerning,  63-65. 
Puffer,  E.,  340,  355. 
Pupil,  31. 


Quackenbos,  390. 


Reason,  XIV. 

induction  and   deduction,    177- 
181. 

bearing  on  teaching,  181-183. 

suggestions  for  teacher  concern- 
ing, 183-187. 
Reeder,  348. 
Religion,  and  science,  336. 

and  art,  337. 

and  morality,  339. 

nature  of,  340-341. 
Religious  Education,  Part  V. 

Principles  of,  Ch.  XXIX. 

nature  of,  343~345- 

in  the  Home,  Ch.  XXXI. 

in  the  Public  School,  Ch.  XXXII. 

in  the  Church,  Ch.  XXXIII. 

the  value  of  the  home,  365-369. 

the  dangers  to  the  home,  369- 

373- 
as  safeguard  and  remedy,  373- 

375- 

its  forces  in  the  home,  375-377. 
its  content   in  the  home,   377- 

378. 
its  method  in  the  home,  378- 

380. 

its  aim  in  the  home,  380-381. 
religious    instruction    in    public 

school,  383-390. 
the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  public 

school,  390-396. 
principle   of,    in    church,    398- 

400. 
educational     agencies     of     the 

church,  400-401. 
educational  work  of  the  minister, 

401-403. 
educational     work     of    Sunday 

School,  403-408. 
educational   work   of  mid-week 

meeting,  409-410. 


434 


Index 


Religious  Nature,  Development  and 

Training  of,  Ch.  XXX. 
why  not  religious  laisset  jaire? 

350-352. 

in  childhood,  352-355. 
in  youth,  355-364. 

Rhees,  427. 

Ribot,  207,  214,  255. 

Rooper,  116. 

Rosenkranz,  30,  65,  364. 

Rosmini,  106,  154. 

Rousseau,  88. 

Royce,  8,  22,  74,  102,  142,  154,  164, 
166,  176,  190,  196,  203,  207, 
210,  269,  283,  305,  329. 


Samson,  214,  240,  255. 
Santayana,  214,  255. 
Schaeffer,  164,  176,  190,  265. 
Schiller,  214,  247,  255. 
Science,  of  Education,  Part  I. 

meaning  of,  3-4. 

descriptive  and  normative,  4. 

methods  of  educational,   16-21. 

what  a  science  of  education  most 

needs,  20-21. 
Search,  41,  277,  312. 
Sensation,  Training  the  Senses,  Ch. 
VII. 

why  train  the  senses,  86-88. 

how?  88^94. 

mistakes  in  sense-training,   94- 

95- 

Sense-perception,  98-100. 
Sinclair,  22. 

Spencer,  65,  89,  96,  207,  265,  269. 
Stanley,    104-105,    106,    199,    207, 

214,  255. 

Starbuck,  348,  364,  396. 
Stead,  95. 
Stewart,  381. 
Stoll,  285,  288-290,  292. 


Stout,  116,  136-137,  138,  139,  207 
219,  226,  265,  277,  283,  292. 

3*9- 

Stratton,  57,  283,  292. 

Suggestion,  Ch.  XXV. 

nature  of,  284. 

place  of,  in  educating,  285-286. 
the  art  of  suggesting,  286-287. 
detrimental     suggestions,     288- 

290. 
hypnotism  and  education,  290- 

291. 

Sully,  J.,  65,  88,  92,  96,  106,  139, 
154,  164,  176,  190,  214,  238, 
239,  265,  283. 

Sunday  School,  aim  of,  403-404. 
needs  of,  404-408. 
discipline  in,  406-408. 

T 

Tarver,  54. 
Taylor,  164. 

Teacher,  Essential  Qualifications 
of,  Ch.  V. 

task  of,  39-41. 

knowledge  of  his  subject,  43-47. 

knowledge  of  his  pupils,  47-49. 

ability  to  teach,  49-53. 

his  character,  53. 

his  attitude,  64. 
Thilly,  238. 

Thomas,  214,  219,  226,  238,  255. 
Thompson,  312. 

Thorndike,  14,  17,  22,  65,  70,  79, 
154,  226,  269,  277,  279,  283, 
286,  305,  329. 
Titchener,  207,  329. 
Tompkins,  103,  106,  164.  176,  364, 

396- 
Tucker,  W.J.,  41- 

V 

Van  Dyke,  H.,  140,  154. 
Variations,  individual,  57. 


Index 


435 


w 

Ware,  30. 

Watts,  95. 

Wells,  D.  C.,  381. 

Welton,  164,  176,  187,  190. 

Wendell,  21,  321. 

West,  lesson  of  the,  25-26. 

Will,  Field  of,  Ch.  XXI. 

function  of,  261. 

importance  of,  261-262. 

two  conceptions  of,  262-263. 

development  of,  263-264. 

the  precipitate,  272-275. 


Will,  the  obstructed,  275-277. 

Willett,  427. 

Wilson,  28. 

Winchester,  381. 

Witmer,  116. 

Wundt,  203,  269. 


Youmans,  79. 
Young,  22. 


Ziehen,  269. 


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